The Three Brother's Return
by MoxieFoxia
Summary: Harry thought he had finally died for good this time, but when Death sends Harry, Tom Riddle and Snape back in time to be reborn as brothers? Harry knows he won't be able to rest in peace for a long time. Not when your mission is to change the entire time line. Rated T for safety. Ravenclaw!Harry, Powerful!Harry, Manipulative!Dumbledore, slight Ron/Ginny!Bashing. TimeTravel/Rebirth
1. Back to the Past

_Disclaimer: Unfortunately, no matter how much I want it for Christmas, I can't claim ownership of the Harry Potter Series. That goes to J. K. Rowling._

_Summary: Harry thought he had finally died for good this time, but when Death sends Harry, Tom Riddle and Snape back in time to be reborn as brothers? Harry knows he won't be able to rest in peace for a long time. Not when your mission is to change the entire time line. _

_Authors Note: Heya guys! I'm rlly excited to write this fic, I have tons of ideas!! In this one it's gonna be_ **Ravenclaw!Harry, Powerful!Harry, Manipulative!Dumbledore**, and a slight **Ron, Ginny!Bashing. **_Hope your prepared, and if you don't like the fic, just don't read it. If you DO like it, please review! I would love to hear your suggestions for improvements and if I make any mistakes please let me know so I can fix them! :) _

_Would also like to mention that I adopted this story from __Toni42 so thank you! I admit the stories from the first chapter and a bit are practically the same, but I really didn't want to change the first chapter much because I loved it and I thought it was a great starting point. _

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Harry was tired. He was tired of living. His time had finally come though and he would finally see his family again. He was just over 100 years old, he had children, grandchildren. The first part of his life had been spent ina cupboard, then hlf of his life had been fighting a war and the remainder had been cleaning up the aftermaths.

Ironically, he had outlived everyone. Ron had passed when he was 69, Hermione when she was 74. George had lasted until he was 37 but he couldnt keep going on without his other half, his twin, Fred. Percy had been killed during his 3rd year as the Minister while he was 62 by some of the lesser dark families who were angry that they didnt hold much political power when they realized that Percy couldnt be bribed. Charlie had passed away peacefully at 91, Bill at 87 and Ginny at 80. Many others were gone now as well, like McGonagall, Flitwick, Luna, Neville, Draco Malfoy, Sprout, Hagrid and many, many others. Too many.

However Harry took peace in the fact that he was now about to join them.

He lay down on his bed with a deep sigh as he closed his eyes. He listened to his heart beat slow as he let himself sink into his memories. He remembered when he had first found out he was a wizard, when he met Ron and Hermione for the first time, fighting the troll and becoming friends. The fight for the philosophers stone, saving Ginny from the Chamber of secrets. Meeting Sirius for the very first time, meeting Remus. Being entered in the triwizard tournament, Christmas at Grimmauld Place, the last time he had seen Sirius smile. Meeting his godson Teddy for the first time and then marrying Ginny and having their three children.

Harry took one last, shuddering breath and let his muscles relax, his heart letting out its last beat, the smiling faces of his loved ones flashing before his closed eyelids before it came to a complete stop.

Harry fell into the unknown. What he thought would be his final sleep, never to wake up again. Oh how wrong he was.

* * *

Death turned his hands in a slow circle, directing a black whisp of smoke as he did so.Reaching up, he touched two of his long fingers together he drew them down and the" across, creating a triangle which touched the edges of the circle. He then took one, long finger and touched the tip of the triangle, before bringing it down to touch the bottom.

This was the mark of the Deathly Hallows.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" a young man with neat black hair and deep blue eyes asked, looking towards Death and then to the symbol curiously.

"I am sure, Antioch, do not question me" Death replied in a deep voice that sent shivers down the young mans spine.

"I like that name" Antioch said, grinning slightly. "Its more... unique than Tom is"

"Very true" said another wizard, this one with shoulder-length black, greasy hair. He looked much warmer, much happier than he did in life. "I seemed to have been the only one of us given a unique name."

"Yes" Antioch said. "But i would much rather be called Tom rather than Severus- it does meanserventafter all, Cadmus."

Cadmus frowned slightly at this but decided not to comment.

It was now impossibly rare to see the old, corrupted monster that his apparent brother had been when he was alive. It had all changed when he entered the land of the dead. While alive, he never had the power to love, for the concept had been taken away from him when his father had been under the influence of a love potion while he had been conceived and had accidentally passed it on to his son, not that the man would have ever cared. But now, in death, the potion had been broken off and for the first time ever, Tom Riddle felt something other than anger and greed. He does show his older self from time to time, even his deep hatred to his muggle father, but it was more- well,human.

"Ignotus will be arriving shortly." Death announced, now hovering over a shimmering black cauldron. "Then we shall add the last ingrediants."

"Should we not let him see his family first?" Antioch asked, a small frown playing on his features.

"I would agree with you whole heartedly, Antioch, but this potion is very time sensetive and we only have a small opening of time to explain what is happening to him. Besides, it is best to not re-open old wounds. His friends and family have already been dead for many years and he has made peace with that. We do not want them to reunite with each other, only to cruelly have to seperate them, never to see eachother again, do we?" Death replied solemly.

"We need to make a list of what we need to do as well." Cadmus commented, pulling out a few pieces of parchment from his black robes.

"Antioch and I have already written down a few things, but we need Ignotus as he was the one who actually did most of them and he can list things we may have forgotten"

"Its not like the list will magically appear in our pockets once we get there. We'll have to get a hold of a quill and some parchment as soon as possible" Antioch said.

"We are going to bereborn" Cadmus said, struggling not to roll his eyes. "It will be a long time before we will actually be able to do anything at all. What age do children learn to write again?"

"Quiet"Death hissed irritably, raising his head. There was silence for a moment, the two brothers watching the hooded figure quietly. Death lowered his head and turned back to his cauldron, as there was a mighty crash behind them. Both Antioch and Cadmus whirled around as Death spoke without looking at them.

"Ignotus has arrived"

* * *

"Harry!"

The room was spinning and Harry couldnt see who was speaking to him. He just laid back and tried his best to keep himself from vomiting.

"Just... give me a few minutes" he groaned in pain, oblivious to the soft chuckles he had gained from the two other men in the room.

"Come on, up you get" a deep voice said from above him. Harry felt someone grabbing his arms and lifting him up off the floor. Slightly unsteady on his feet, Harry ended up crashing into their chest. Rather than getting shoved off of the person, Harry felt himself getting pulled into a suffocating hug from both the person who he had crashed into and someone who had come up behind him. And both, to his great annoyance, were taller than him.

Suddenly realising that the strangers height really wasnt the biggest issue here, he decided to get some answers.

"Er... who are you?" Harry asked hesitatly, trying and failing to discreetly pull away from the hug.

He didnt notice the flash of hurt crossing over both of the mens faces, due to being squished into their chests.

"Apologies, Harry, we let our emotions get the better of us" the second voice said from behind him. Once he was released from the hugs he came to a startling realisation.

The first man who he had crashed into was none other than a young Tom Riddle. He couldnt quite stop a wave of fear crashing over him.

He had defeated him! What was he doing here?

Reaching into his back pocket, he was alarmed to realise that he didnt have his wand with him.

"Do not judge him for his past actions so much. The past is long behind us and he is a different man now" the second man said quietly. Spinning around quickly, because he recognised that voice, he knew he did-

Severus Snape.

Fighting the urge to faint, he turned back to the young Tom Riddle, trying to convince himself that it was all a dream.

"How?" he asked shakily.

Snape slowly walked over to Tom Riddle's side, shooting Harry concerned glances the whole way.

"This will take a lot of explaining on our part and we dont exactly have a lot of time to do it" Tom said nervously.

"Then shorten it down" Harry said tensely.

Shooting each other another worried glance, they began to tell Harry what all three of them were about to do. And what a tale it was.

* * *

"We are going to bereborn?!"Harry screeched.

"Again. We are going to be reborn again" Snape explained gently, worried for a more violent reaction which would surely be on the way.

"This isnt the first time we have reborn." Tom intergected quickly, obviously sensing the danger as well.

"In both of our past lives we have made tremendous mistakes which have changed the course of history. What Death realised was that the problem was that in neither of our lives did we ever retain our memories. That is what will change this time. We are going back to the past, to be someone new and with the memories we have now, we should be able to prevent the 2nd Dark War." he said softly, trying desperately to explain.

It was a far-fetched idea, Harry knew that. He had no reason to trust them. And yet... something told him he could. They had no reason to lie anyway did they? Taking a deep breath, Harry tried to remai calm and think rationally.

"Ok" Harry told them slowly, cursing that his voice sounded slightly shaky.

That single word seemed to brighten up their faces completely, which confused Harry. Didnt they used to hate him when they were all alive?

"Why are both of you acting civil with me all of a sudden?" Harry asked warily, shifting his gaze between them.

"That would be better explained by me" a gravely voice said from behind him.

Whirling around, Harry saw a figure he recognised immidiately. Tall and cloaked in black, a deep hood obscuring his face and floating ever so slightly above the ground. Death.

"Death" Harry said respecfully, bowing his head slightly in recognition.

"Masterof Death" he responded in an amused tone. "Long has it been since we have spoken"

Harry remained quiet. Death never showed up without a reason and their meetings always went quicker if he just let him get on with it.

"I suppose you are looking for the last piece of the puzzle" he inquired. Seeing Harry's inquisitive look, he continued on.

"The answer as to the identity of your past live. The answer to a long forgotten question. The answer to your very being. Who is your soul?" Death asked quietly, almost to himself with that annoyingly knowing look of his.

Obviously not expecting an answer, Death held out a slightly smoking bottle to him, a potion, he realised. "Before you drink, i think it would be prudent to at least tell one of your stories. One that is a little less known. And yet is still a well known legend."

He left Harry to wonder what the hell he meant as he walked up to the wall in front of them as both Snape and Tom settled on either side of him. Not quite touching, because they knew he still didnt feel comfortable with them.

He turned his attention to Death, who had cast numerous shadows across the dark room and started to make shadow figures with his powers onto the wall.

"There were once three brothers, who were travelling along a lonely winding road at twilight"

Death spoke softly. And suddenly Harry realised which story was being told. He knew who his past live had been and it scared him.

"In time, the brothers reached a river too tretcherous to pass. But being learned in the magical arts, the three brothers simply waved their wands and made a bridge"

Harry watched in awe as three shadowy figures, one bulky, one lean and one small, all waved their wands and created a bridge out tree roots. It was astounding magical control.

"Before they could cross, however, they found their path blocked by a hooded figure"

A tall, skeletal figure emerged from a whirlwind of leaves and looked menacingly at all three of the young men.

"It was Death, and he felt cheated"

All three of the young men watching history play out felt a shiver of fear run down their spines. Death wasangry.None of them particuarly wanted to see that. Ever.

"Cheated because travellers would normally drown in the river. But Death was cunning. He pretended to congratulate the three brothers on their magic and said that each had earned a prize in being clever enough to evade him"

Harry felt a sense of foreboding. He knew the ending of this story and it wasnt pleasant. One thing was for sure though that he had learnt from this. Never piss off Death.

"The oldest asked for a wand more powerful than any in existance. So Death fashioned him one from an elder tree that stood nearby"

Harry watched as the shadow created the Elder wand and hand it to the oldest brother and he gave Tom a discreet side-glance. If what he thought was true, then they msut have been the three brothers from the story, which made Tom the oldest. Antioch, he thought the name was. Power hungry in both lives, he mused.

"The second brother decided he wanted to humiliate death even further and asked for the power to recall loved ones from the grave. So Death plucked a stone from the river and offered it to him"

Despite himself, Harry found himself comparing the second brother, Cadmus, to Snape as he saw the shadowshadow figure of death conjure the stone and hand it over. He felt pity in realising that to ask for such a gift, he must have lost someone dear to him in his first life as well.

"Finally, Daeth turned to the third brother. A humble man, he asked for something that would allow him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And so it was that Death reluctantly handed over his own cloak of invisibility."

Feeling the stares of both Tom and Snape, or as he reminded himself, Antioch and Cadmus, he shrank in on himself, trying to get them to stop looking at him. Thankfully after a short while, they both turned their attention back to the story and Harry let himself relax slightly.

"The first brother travelled to a distant villiage, where with the Elder wand in hand, he killed a wizard with whom he had once quarreled."

Harry watched with an uneasy feeling in his stomach as he watched the shadow figure of the first brother strike down the man in cold blood. He didnt notice the worried looks Tom- no, Antioch, kept sending him.

"Drunk with the power that the Elder wand had given him, he btagged of his invincibiliy.But that night, another wizard stole the wand and slit the brother's throat for good measure"

All three men shivered in fear as the bloodstained blew out the candle in the images they were shown. Despite not knowing him as Antioch, Harry felt extremely upset by witnessing his death, and so he tentatively reached out for his hand and gave it a small squeeze. He was relieved when he felt a strong responding squeeze answer his. It left him feeling warm.

"And so Death took the first brother for his own.The second brother journeyd to his home, where he took the stone and turned it thrice in hand. To his delight, the girl he had once hoped to marry before her untimely death appeared before him. Yet soon she turned sad, and cold, for she did not belong in the mortal world. Driven mad with hopeless longing, the second brother killed himself so as to join her. And so Death took the second brother"

The fate of the second brother chilled him to the bone. It was way too similiar for comfort. The similarities between the lives of Cadmus Perevell and Severus Snape were astounding. Seeing that Cadmus, for that was what he would now call him, needed comfort, he took his hand in his own and stared fixedly ahead, waiting for his part in the story. He didnt notice the almost painful look of hope the two older men shared between them.

"As for the third brother, death searched for many years but was never able to find him. Only when attained a great age did the youngest brother shed the cloak of invisibility and give it to his son. He then greeted death as an old friend, and went with him gladly, departing this life as equals."

As the shadow figure of Death and the third brother flew away, Harry took out the smoking potion which he had placed in his pocket and stared at it, trying to decide what he wanted to do.

"That vial of potion opens up many new possibilities for you. It will re-open your mind. You will live through your memories, you will gain abilities that you had in your past lives. You will be able to claim inheritances to Ancient and long forgotten families which you had access to in your previous lives as the Perevell brothers." Death said quietly.

"You will be who you are truly meant to be" Death said sadly, almost in longing. That was when Harry realised something. He looked at all of their faces. They all screamed of sadness, pain, happiness, but most prominant was longing. They all remembered who he had once been. Death truly did see him as an 'old friend' as was said in the story and Antioch and Cadmus both grew up with him apparently, they both longed for a younger brother. A younger brother who was just out of reach. A family, he realised. This was what he had been missing. What he had longed for. What he could now have.

Without another second of hesitation, he uncorked the vial, pinched his nose shut, downed the contents and swollowed. The last thing he felt before he blacked out were two strong pairs of arms gently lowering him to the ground.

* * *

He was running along a large grassy hill, trying to catch up to his two older brothers. Antioch, the oldest of the three, had his long cloak trailing out behind him in the soft Autumn wind. He reached the top of the hill first and looked behind him to grin at his two younger brothers, proud of his achievement.

Just as Cadmus was about to reach the top as well, the youngest, Ignotus, tripped and fell onto the grass, scraping his hands and knees, drawing a small amount of blood. Pausing to look at him, Cadmus began running back to him, soon followed by Antioch.

"Are you alright Ignotus?" Cadmus asked, kneeling beside the small boy in concern.

The four year old sniffled and nodded past his tears, slowly getting to his feet.

Suddenly, Antioch grinned. "Here!"

Ignotus' feet suddenly left the ground and he found himself on Antioch's back, gripping his brother's shoulders tightly to keep himself from falling off and in turn getting his legs held up by Antioch. Antioch began running up the hill again with Cadmus behind them both just incase they fell over, Although much slower and panting much sooner than before, he kept running up the hill with his younger brother on his back.

When they were near the top, Antioch slid Ignotus off of his back and grabbed one of his tiny hands, with Cadmus taking the other. They only had to take a few steps and then all three brothers reached the top. Both Antioch and Cadmus cheered as if he had won some sort of great race. Feeling warm from his brother's afections, Ignotus cheered with them, feeling light and happy.

* * *

_"Big brother Anitioch and Cadmus!" a small six year old Ignotus squeeled happily and his older brothers picked him up and threw him in the air. Delighted giggles drew a smile on their faces as they played together._

* * *

_"Hey Caddy?" Ignotus asked softly. All three boys were laying down in bed together to stop their nightmares from coming. Cadmus was squished up into the wall and had pulled Ignotus to his chest. Antioch was at the edge of the bed, almost to the point of falling off and had his arms around Ignotus' waist._

_"Yeah Iggy?" Cadmus replied._

_"When is mum gonna come back?"_

_Cadmus was quite for a long time. The only sound was of Antioch's soft snores which filled the room. Ignotus was almost asleep by the time Cadmus answered._

_"I'm not sure Iggy, but you shouldn't think about her anymore" he said quietly but firmly. "You have us. You have me and you have Antioch and you have father."_

_While Ignotus loved his father, he had always had more of a connection to his mother. Father had always been very strict._

_"Hush now little one, go to sleep now."_

* * *

It was so dark. He couldn't see anything at all.

It was warm all around him, leaving him feeling peaceful.

He felt like he was floating, almost like he was underwater.

He could feel two small bodies presses up against his. He felt like he knew them but he just didn't know why or how.

Suddenly, one of the bodies which was with him in the dark space let out a high-pitched cry as it was sucked away and disappeared through a small hole.

He jerked away, his heart thumping madly in terror. Where had they gone? What was happening? Was he going to be taken too?

He had no idea what was going on.

Just as suddenly and as quickly as the first, the second body was being sucked through the hole as well and let out a high-pitched scream. Then it was just gone, just like the first body. Were they in pain? Was that why they had screamed? Although it hadn't seemed as though they were screaming in pain, more like surprise.

For several moments he just floated there alone in the dark. Heart thumping, head spinning, fear clogging his throat. The silence was almost suffocating.

Then he felt himself being pulled through as well. He felt himself going through the hole and he started thrashing about madly, he was scared and he didn't want to find out what had made the other two scream and cry out.

However he had no power against the pull and before he knew what was happening, he was out and he was hit by a cold blast of air. He couldn't help but cry out, it was really very uncomfortable.

There were blinding lights filling his vision and everything seemed incredibly blurry. Why was it so cold? He was also soaking wet, he realised.

All the lights and sounds were hurting his eyes and ears and he wanted nothing more than to be back in that dark place where it was more comfortable.

Something fuzzy was being wrapped around him and he was aware enough to recognise it as a blanket. Warm, strong arms took him in their grasp and he suddenly felt incredibly safe and comforted.

When he looked up, he saw the beaming face of his father, gently rocking him back and forth. He looked to be in his early twenties, his hair carelessly ruffled and messy and his hazel eyes rimmed by round glasses looking down at him with love and adoration.

"Heya, Harry" he whispered.

Harry tried desperately to answer him, to tell him that he was sorry and that he loved him, but he only achieved a soft cooing. This seemed to make James happier, because his grin broadened. He gently laid him in a white cot, next to two other bodies, who he only just realised were Tom and Severus. Antioch and Cadmus. His older brothers.

They were ever so slightly different from their last lives as Voldemort and Snape, he noticed. Severus' nose was no longer crooked, but long and slim like Ron's was. Harry guessed that he was now a mix of Potter and Snape DNA from his old life. He also notices that Tom's eyes were no longer red and were in fact a deep blue, like from before he had become the Dark Lord.

"What will their names be?" he heard one of the healers above them ask. This immediately diverted the three brother's attention from each other. They hadn't even considered that their names would be changed.

"The oldest with the blue eyes will be Thomas James Potter" James replied while looking at Tom. "It's customary in the Potter family for the eldest son to be named after the father" he explained.

Harry couldn't hold back a giggle, earning a small baby glare from Tom and a fond smile from both James and the Healers as they clipped a blue wristband with the name Tom written on it.

"The second born, with the black eyes" James continued, capturing the attention of the brothers. "Severus Fleamont Potter, after his grandfather, my own father."

Harry saw a look of surprise enter Severus' eyes, as the blue band was strapped to his small wrist. James Potter named his own son after his childhood enemy Severus Snape? None of them had been expecting that at all.

Apparently eager to get a move on, James switched his attention to Harry and he looked directly into his eyes for a moment.

"Harry Evans Potter" he almost whispered. "He may have the Potter hair, but he is the only one to have inherited his mother's eyes."

A moment later, Tom was picked up, soon followed by Severus and the Harry himself. The Healers carried them to the bed where Lily sat, giving them an exhausted smile and yet she radiated happiness. Harry and Tom were squeezed into one of her arms and Severus into the other.

As the Healers left the family to have their moment together, telling James that if there was anything that seemed off, to call for them immediately, three tall figures squeezed past the Healers and into the hospital room. Harry immediately recognised Sirius, Remus and Snape. Pettigrew, it seemed, was absent. Probably doing some dark Death Eater duties, Harry thought darkly, not even being there for his best friend's children's birth. However he didn't know what Snape was doing here.

"Where's my godson?" Sirius asked, grinning widely.

James, who was sitting with his arm around his wife, stood up and pulled an old fashioned polaroid camera out of his pocket.

"You'll get your chance to hold Harry in a moment, Sirius, just let me take a picture first."

As James held up the camera to his eyes, Lily gave him a tired yet glowing smile. There was a small flash and a picture came out of the bottom of the camera. James took it out and looked at it, still grinning. It made Harry wonder if it was hurting his face yet.

Almost as soon as James had tucked the photograph into his pocket did Sirius demand to hold his godson. Harry felt warmth spread through his chest as his father handed him to Sirius, who grinned down at him just like had, gently rocking him back and forth as if he were made of precious glass and he was likely to break him.

Since Harry couldn't yet talk, he let out a small coo and held his chubby baby hand to cup his godfather's face, trying to convey in actions how much he meant to him. It seemed to do the trick as tears immediately sprung to Sirius's eyes and he gave a watery chuckle.

"I love you too, pup"

Remus appeared over Sirius's shoulder and smiled gently at Harry, before James handed him Tom.

"I believe this is your godson."

Harry nearly burst out into another fit of giggles as Tom's eyes widened in shock and maybe even a bit of horror. He likely hadn't even considered anything about their guardianship after the Potter's died, let alone his godfather being a werewolf. His past self was going to kill Lily and James in a year, which was a weird thought.

Then Severus was handed to Snape, almost reluctantly, by James. But then the black haired and hazel eyed man squared his shoulders a bit and put on a smile, maybe just a little bit fake. Lily's smile, however, certainly was real.

"You named him after me?" Snape asked in shock while looking at the blue wristband, which bared the name Severus Fleamont Potter.

"Yeah" James said quietly. He certainly did look uncomfortable. "You can just call him Junior or something if you'd like. Would probably make things less confusing, 'cause your his godfather"

Okay. Wasn't expecting that.

\--

The three newly dubbed brothers were soon taken to the Potter family's cottage in Godric's Hollow. Each had found a birthmark in the shape of the symbol of the Deathly Hallows on their right hands. None of the adults had seen it before and they didn't know what it meant, so none of them thought much more of it other than a birthmark. Sirius seemed to think it was rather cool that all three of them had it, in exactly the same place as well.

Harry very much enjoyed spending time with his parents and godfather, because he knew that soon both his parents would be killed and Sirius would be carted off to Azkaban for thirteen years. Hopefully not as long as that though, perhaps they could get him out sooner. Harry saw it as making up for the time they never had in his last life, for he couldn't remember anything about his parents from before.

Remus unfortunately would never be able to get custody of Tom, his godson, if something were to ever happen to James and Lily, and so Remus and Sirius agreed that Sirius would officially adopt both Tom and Harry but Remus would pretty much raise Tom.

If only they knew.

The year seemed to fly by far too quickly. Time was filled by bubble baths, naps, their pet cat Dawn sleeping next to them, visits from their godfathers, eating baby mush and being stuck in prams.

As it turned out, Harry, Tom and Severus weren't able to speak at all and could only say 'baby gibberish'. Severus apparently found this irritating and had already exploded two lamps in his frustration.

Another thing was that their accidental magic was surfacing much too soon to be normal due to their magical cores being larger than average, with there still being room for them to grow. Which was bloody terrifying, but luckily they managed to explain away the exploded lamps by pretending to have knockedthem over and smashed them while they were crawling about. There thankfully wasn't any suspicion, as babies doing accidental magic was u heard of.

There was also the rather awkward fact that Snape would come by as frequently as Remus and Sirius and had one point actually ended up changing Severus's nappy, much to the amusement of Sirius, Tom and Harry.

He could see just from looking at them interacting together that Tom was slowly warming up to Remus and that no matter how uncomfortable Snape was with everyone, Severus appreciated his efforts, as he knew how difficult it was for him. Sirius let Harry ride on his back as Padfoot as they galloped around the garden outside.

Each night, either Sirius, Remus or Snape would read them a bedtime story. Sirius's stories were the best in Harry's opinion, as he often told them stories of the Marauder's adventures at school or when he, as an Auror, took down a 'very evil man who was doing very evil things'. Remus read them a variety of fairy tales, from both muggle and magical children's books while Snape read out loud to them from a potions book. He obviously had no idea what he was doing but again, they appreciated the effort he was showing. At least now Harry could safely say that he was confidant in first year potion recipes now. He had them almost committed to memory.

Harry didn't think he could bare letting this all go.

But eventually the time that the brothers were dreading came. The three of them were wide awake on the night of October 31st, refusing to even close their eyes no matter how Lily tried to put them to sleep. All three of them knew what was coming.

Eventually James took out his wand and began blowing rainbow bubbles all around the room for them to pop.

Then came the sound of the wards being broken.

\--

The Dursleys were much, much worse than he remembered.

Since there were three of them this time around, the cupboard that they were all kept in was extremely cramped. They had managed when they were younger, but now they all had to have designated positions so that they could all fit while lying down, and even then they all woke up in the morning with cramps and stiff backs.

Tom had to be at the bottom of their little pile up because he was the tallest. He curled his legs up slightly and held one arm to his side while he held out the other as a pillow for Severus who slept next to him. Harry, however, as the smallest and the youngest, ended up sleeping on top of them both with his head on Tom's chest and his legs sprawled out all over Severus' side.

It wasn't exactly comfortable but it worked.

They were also given many more chores than he remembered, although he supposed this was due to there being three of them rather than just Harry and they could get more done.

Tom had said it was outrageous that they had expected three two year olds to scrub the entire kitchen floor in under three hours, even if they did have the minds of adults.

Ignotus, or Iggy, had quickly become Harry's new nickname when they were finally able to pronounce it, just as Tom's and Severus' nicknames were Ani and Cad, short for Antioch and Cadmus. He eventually got used to the idea of both Tom and Severus being his older brothers and he became comfortable around them. He quite liked having older brothers to look after him. He'd never had a sibling before.

Despite being in his nineties, both Tom and Severus treated him as if he were really young and they were very protective of him. Tom even went as far as to say he had broken a vase when it was actually Harry who had accidentally knocked it over while he'd been dusting.

While it was all very annoying, he couldn't help but feel touched. It was, after all, their way of showing him that they cared about him and they didn't want him getting hurt.

All three of them were still getting flashes of their past lives as Antioch, Cadmus and Ignotus, but most of them came as dreams while they were sleeping.

Finally, when they were able to properly hold a pencil for the first time, Severus stole some paper from a cabinet in the living room and they began planning the things they needed to do once they got to Hogwarts. Despite the fact that the handwriting was atrocious and they would probably need to re-write it in a few years in order to be able to properly read it, they needed to write everything they could down, lest they ever forget anything.

When they were four, Tom suggested that they actually run away from the Dursleys, but that idea was quickly abandoned. If they ran, they would likely be found by magical means very quickly. They most likely had tracking charms placed on them, or the wards had an alarm on them. Even if that wasn't the case though, by running away, they would be changing the future much too soon and they would lose their advantages.

But that night, when both Tom and Severus thought that Harry had fallen asleep, he heard them both agree that if the Dursleys decided to go to physical punishments on him they were leaving. Period.


	2. Growing Up

_Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter.__Authors Note: Hey guys! Thank you SO much for the reviews! They gave me that little boost that I needed to get this chapter done quicker. It made me really happy to hear that your enjoying this story so far, I really appreciate it. The reviews also made me think quite a bit about which houses I would put the brothers in and I think I know what I'm gonna do so thankyou.__I do realise that, again, this is a lot like the other story that I based mine off, I did try to make it slightly different but that's hard to do when I really do love the original one so much. Don't worry though! From now on, It's all my own work. Chapter 3 onwards in completely new for me and I hope I do OK._

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Six year old (again) Tom wrapped the present he was holding in brown, crinkly paper. His fingers were clumsy, he kept fumbling with the tape as it kept sticking to his hands and his abby clothes.

He held two lumpy packages to eye level, and sighed as he realised this was probably the neatest he was going to get. Besides, he didnt have any more wrapping paper left anyway.

It had taken him an entire year of nicking money from the Dursley's wallets (he refused to acknowledge that whale as any relative of his), random strangers off the streets and of course from Dudley's piggy bank, to finally be able to afford decent presents for his younger brothers.

Every year they had attempted to throw a small party for themselves for their birthdays. Admittedly, they were small, quite bad and fairly pitiful as they couldn't afford presents for eachother. However this year they had each gotten each other something. Tom had bought his, he knew Harry had made something, but he didn't know what Severus had done.

That boy was an enigma.

Most of their 'parties' were either under the stairs, or in the park whenever they could sneak away for a few hours.

They also usually pranked Dudley on occasion, which helped to lighten their mood considerably each and every time.

Stuffing the badly wrapped presents under the bed that they shared, which was basically just a matress with holes and loose springs, Tom opened the cupboard door and stepped out, closing it behind him.

He spotted Harry and Severus outside, beginning to clear the driveway, which was covered in a thick lair of ice and snow.

Pulling on a pair of Dudley's old snow boots, Tom went outside to join them.

* * *

On Christmas day, the three brothers were locked inside their cupboard so that Dudley could open his presents in 'peace'. They didn't mind though, they actually preffered it like this. Here, they could have their own little celebration with just each other.

"Merry Christmas!" Harry said, grinning at the other two members of their little trio and showing off a missing tooth.

Tom and Severus both shared a secret smile. They had both agreed that Harry had to be the cutest kid ever, though they decided to never tell him this, as he would likely be pretty pissed at them.

"Merry Christmas!" Tom and Severus said at the same time. Tom then reached into his hiding place under the bed and pulled out two badly wrapped Christmas presents and presented them both to them, shoving one into Harry's hands and the other into Severus's.

"Iv'e been saving up some money ever since last New Years" explained Tom, as the two looked at him and then back to their presents in shock.

"Although it involved quite a bit of nicking in order to be able to afford them" he added sheepishly in response to Harry's dissaproving look.

"Go on then, open them!" Tom said impatiently, unable to wait much longer to see if they liked their presents.

"And no returns!" he added quickly.

Harry began to rip his open quickly, eager to see what his brother had gotten him, while Severus began the slow, agonising process of gently peeling off the tape, purely because it would get on Tom's nerves.

Harry's face broke out into a large smile and he held the book up to the single light in their cupboard to get a better look at the title.

Lord of the Rings was written proudly on the front cover. It was obiously a hand me down copy, judging from it's worn appearance, wrinkled pages and the name on the first page which Tom had scribbled out.

"Where did you get this?" Harry asked in awe, already turning the book over to read the blurb on the back.

"Book store, hand me down section" Tom answered with a self concious shrug of his shoulders.

Harry looked up and indeed Tom's teeth were already grinding in frustration from Severus's slow pace of unwrapping his present.

Tom never was a patient person and Harry had a feeling he never would be.

Finally, the paper was torn away to reveal a potions book. 'Obscure Potion Recepies' the front cover read. Tom had a broad grin on his face, obviously pleased with Severus' stunned look.

"H-How did you... ?" he stammered.

Tom rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as a blush crept onto his cheeks.

"Er... I kind of... Apparated to London and snuck into Diagon Alley. It should help with all those pranks we're gonna do once we get to Hogwarts" Tom grinned.

They were planning on actually having some fun once they got to Hogwarts, something which none of them really got to do the first time around.

What with Tom not having any positive emotions, Severus pining after Lily and Harry constatly having a mass murderer trying to kill him, none of them had ever actually relaxed.

"It's got all sorts of cool stuff. Turning hair a different colour, turning people temprarily into animals, you can even make people sing some stuff" Tom said excitedly.

Tom had found an interest in pranks and Harry was keen to join him. Severus, however, decided to instead take a supporting role and instead create all the potions being used.

"Sound great" Severus smiled back. "You went to Diagon Alley though?"

"Yeah, but don't worry, no one recognised me. I told the lady at the desk that it was my dad's birthday and that i was buying the book for him as a present."

"Antioch... thanks" Severus said warmly.

"Yea, thanks a bunch Ani" Harry said brightly.

"I got both of you something too." Severus said. When he presented his gift to Harry, it turned out to be a round-framed pair of glasses, just like the ones he had worn in his past life.

"I love them Cad! Thank you so much, and I can see much better now." Harry said brightly.

"And this is for Antioch." Severus said, holding out a small sketch of all three of them sleeping under a tree. It was very well done, if a bit rough. Tom obviously loved it though.

"Thanks Cadmus, it's wonderful." He said appreciatevly.

Harry smiled softly at them both, before pulling out two packages of his own.

"Here, i made you both something" he said brightly, handing the packages over.

Once both boys opened the packages, it was revealed that Tom had recieved a small Black stone with red veins running through it, tied up in a string of leather to form a necklace. Severas had gotten a small green stone with a mix of black and white veins running through itand intertwining with each other, also held up by some leather string.

Both boys immidiately put them around their necks and turned to hug their youngest member tightly.

"And look" Harry continued, revealing a similiar necklace around his own neck, which was a pale blue stone with purple and white veins. "We each have one. I thought it was pretty cool" Harry said shyly, looking down.

Both Tom and Severus looked at each other from above Harry's head and grinned.

"I love it Iggy, it's beautiful" Severus murmered softly while resting his cheek against Harry's unruly mop of messy hair.

"Yeah" Tom agreed, placing his chin on top of Severus's head. "I love it Iggs, thankyou."

They all understood what the stones meant. They were all unique and yet at the same time, very similiar. The three brothers were all alone in this world, but they were together. At least they had each other.

\--

"-seven, eight, nine, ten. Ready or not, here I come!"

Severus looked around the park and began to wander around, searching for his brothers. They had begun to make a list of all the different things they would need to change in this timeline, as they would be starting Hogwarts next year, and somehow it had turned into a childish game of hide and seek.

He blamed Harry for this.

Severus was beginning to think that while mentally, all three of them were very old men and had already lived an entire lifetime, they had been given childish characteristics. He thought that Death had actually done this on purpose, so that no one would get too suspicious about them, mainly Dumbledore, until they could properly protect their minds with a solid defence of Occlumency. So far, they had been meditating in their sleep and whenever they were stuck in their cupboard. They had managed a pretty solid wall so far, nothing special, but enough to keep a novice Legilimency user and anyone who did some light probing out.

The spring sun beamed down on him as he searched for Tom, because he always found Tom first. Little droplets of rain raced each other down the slide and dropped off the tree branches, splashing onto the ground.

Heading towards a small, plastic tunnel, Severus looked through it to immidiately find Tom. Grinning up at him sheepishly, the small 10 year old time traveler climbed out of the small tunnel. Severus just raised an eyebrow at him.

"I ran out of time, okay?!"

Rolling his eyes at him, Severus looked around the seemingly empty park, apart from them. "Wheres Iggy?"

Tom looked around, as if waiting for Harry to just pop out of no where and shout 'BOO!'. "No idea."

"I can't believe he's beating the 'Oh so feared Dark Lord' at Hide and Seek." Severus muttered to himself, grinning when Tom shoved him. The two walked aimlessly about the park, looking behind tree trunks and in bushes, even under benches and the slide. Harry, though, was nowhere to be seen.

Sighing with the acceptance that they wouldn't win the game, Tom decided that it was getting a bit too dark and decided to end the game quickly.

"Ignotus!" Tom shouted out, some concern leaking into his voice. "You can come out now! We give up!"

"Alright, fine!" came a shout from above them.

They looked up just in time to hear the sound of a loud snap of a breaking branch, and to see a screaming Harry as he fell out of a large tree, branches smacking his face and scraping across his arms and legs, leaving small gashes and soon-to-be bruises all over his body, before landing on the hard ground with a thump on the grass.

"HARRY!" two young voices screamed out in panic.

Feeling dazed and confused, he attempted to sit up, but he only succeeded in making himself dizzy. Before he could get his bearings back, he felt two srong pairs of arms hold him with a grip as strong as steel, hauling him to his feet.

Harry blinked in surprise as he vaegly registered Tom's panicked hands pat him down, checking him for anything life-threatening, while Severus was mumbling quietly about him being too reckless. Although there was a clear edge of concern in his tone, Much to their relief, nothing was broken or twisted at the wrong angle.

As soon as they were both absolutely sure that their younger brother hadn't aquired any fatal injuries by his reckless stunt, Harry felt himself being pulled into a tight group hug, completely catching him off gaurd.

"Are you alright?" Severus asked worriedly, checking his eyes for his pupil's reactions.

"I'm fine" Harry huffed irritably. Really, he had suffered far worse injuries. While he really did appreciate their concer, and no matter how much he looked like a ten year old, he was mentally a fully grown adult, an old man in his nineties! He was not made of glass.

"Let's go back to the Dursleys" said Tom, walking up to Harry and gently scooping him up into his arms bridal-style.

"ANI!" Harry shrieked in surprise, not having expected to have been lifted up.

"We should get those cuts disinfected" said Severus, casting a critical eye over Harry's injuries. Both boys completely ignored the boy who was constantly protesting and squirming around, trying to be put down.

The trio walked out of the park, Tom was Harry in his arms and Severus trailing along behind them, Harry saying that they didn't need to go back but the two other boys wouldn't hear of it.

When they finally reached the road of private drive, Tom felt Harry tense up slightly and he knew it was because of all the awful experiances he had lived through in that house, in this life and the past one. Tom and Severus, who had also noticed Harry's reaction, both silently took hold of Harry's hands, causing the boy to blush slightly, but they didn't let go until they were all the way up the stairs of the Dursleys house and in the small bathroom.

Tom set Harry on the toilet seat, as Severus used a small stool to reach the medecine cabinet above the sink to get some disinfectant, some cotton buds and some plasters.

Realising what was about to happen, Harry quickly began to try and make his escape, only to be stopped by Tom holding him in place tightly, preventing him from moving.

"Wait, no-" he said desperately.

"Iggy just hold still for a minute" Tom hissed into his ear, barely succeeding in holding the squirming boy still. He then grabbed his arm and held it forward, presenting it to Severus in order for him to get a better look at the gashes. Seeing the cuts, which were still leaking some blood, Severus began dabbing at the cuts with the cotton bud gently, causing Harry to hiss anf curse something foul as they stung.

Harry could only offer up a sheepish, apolagetic grin in response to Severus's reprimanding look. Tom didn't say anything, but he could definately feel him shaking from the effort of witholding his laughter.

When Severus was satisfied that he had completely cleaned the cuts, he placed some plasters on the deeper cuts and stepped back to make sure he had done everything he could. With a single nod to Tom to show that he was finnished, Harry was finally released from his hold, who shot them a barely restrained scowl.

"Was that really necissary?" Harry grumbled.

"Completely" came the drawling voice of Tom from behind him.

"Obviously" Severus chimed in.

"There's been something we've been meaing to ask you actually-"

"-honestly, we were wondering how managed to survive at all in your past life-"

"-without our help we mean-"

"-and so we were wondering..." Severus trailed off.

Seemingly having rehersed this, both Tom and Severus turned to him in perfect syncranisation, and exactly the same time asked, "How did you survive so long?"

Glaring at both of them, Harry stomped out the room, refusing to accept that he had just been the victem of a situation which strongly reminded him of the Weasley twins.

\--

The three brothers were currently walking through the many different Zoo exhibits, trying to match which animals reminded them of a person. Resulting in many chuckles for them, but recieving many odd looks from people walking past them.

"Hey, Ani, look over here." Harry whispered, dragging Tom to the wolf exhibit and pointing at a large brown wolf lazing about in the sun. "That one looks like Moony." Harry giggled.

Severus, who had followed them, snorted, while Tom gave a slight grin. "Better not let the Dursleys hear you say stuff like that. Petunia might recognize the nickname."

"I doubt it, she despised anything to do with the magical world, James Potter and his friends included. I doubt she ever payed attention to those sorts of things." Severus mused quietly.

"This is boring." came the whiney voice of Piers, Dudley's mousy friend, from behind them as he walked up to them. "Someone throw a rock at it, get it to actually do something" he complained.

"Don't do that." said Harry indignantly, glaring at Piers. "That would be an extremely cruel thing to do."

"Does it look like I care? And who gave you permission to speak to me? You little freak." Piers sneered at him and then walked off, over to where Dudley was shouting at a large bubboon.

Harry became nervous as he could hear Tom muttering darkly under his breath, and saw Severus giving on of his famous dark glares.

"Hey look, that bubboon looks like Dudley" said Harry, desperately trying to relieve some of the tension. It worked somewhat, but only just. Harry was just relieved, he didn't want to have to deal with any unexplained deaths.

They walked around the Zoo for a while longer. Petunia and Vernon bought Dudley and Piers and ice cream each, and unfortunately they couldn't escape fast enough to avoid the lady working at the parlour asking what they wanted. So the three brothers, with a quick smile from Harry to the ice cream lady in silent thanks, each got a cheap lemon popsical each.

Finally, they reached the much anticipated reptile house, where Harry went in search of the Boa Constrictor that he had released in his past life.

He found it with Dudley already pressing his fat, greasy face up against the glass, his nose being stretched up like a pig's. When the snake continued to sleep, he turned to his father in annoyance. "Make it move."

Vernon rapped his knuckles sharply on the glass. The snake didn't move at all and continued to ignore them completely.

"This is boring." Dudley grumbled, trudging off to go and find Piers.

"This is the snake you let loose?" asked Severus, amazed, when he was absolutely sue that they couldn' be overheard. He leaned closer to the glass, making sure to keep his face far away from the greasy stain that Dudley's face had left, to get a closer look .

"Yup." Harry replied, popping the 'p' loudly while looking at the snake fondly. It had been very polite.

"That's... that's Nagini." Tom said in shock, his face white.

Harry spun around to look at him in alarm. "What?!"

"Does this mean she is already a horcrux?" demanded Severus immidiately.

Tom quickly shook his head in refusal. "No, i didn't make her a horcrux until the summer before I was ressurected, a few years from now."

"So if we let her go now... she'll just be made another horcrux again won't she?" Harry said frowning.

"That is indeed the most likely outcome" answered Severus, nodding.

"What if we take her with us?" Harry suddenly blurted out, causing both Tom and Severus to look at him as if he had grown a second head. Licking his lips in sudden nervousness, Harry continued, trying to explain his reasoning.

"She can be your familiar. I'll be getting Hedwig again, so that means that you two can get your own pets. We can sneak her onto the train in Cad's backpack or something I'm sure."

Severus cocked his head to the side in thought, a small frown on his pensive face. "I suppose it could work... we would need to keep her far away from the Dursleys though, they would sooner kill her than let her into the house."

"We could keep her outside! Theres a nice grassy area just out at the back of the house, and theres a small pond too!" Harry said quickly, paling at the thought of the Dursleys reaction to them bringing home a snake.

"Am i missing something here?" Tom intergected, frustrated with being left out of the loop. "How exactly would we be allowed to bring a snake to Hogwarts?"

"Well, Ron brought a rat with him, so obviously other pets are allowed." Harry answered, not taking his eyes off off Nagini. "There was also Lee Jordan, the Weasley twin's friend, he brought some sort of spider with him, Tarantula i think." he mused.

"Alright, so it's settled." Harry decided. "Antioch? Can you still speak parseltongue?"

"I should think so, after all, we are now horcruxes arn't we? We have a part of Voldemort's soul in us and he can." Tom said uncomfortably, shivering at the thought of another person's soul in him.

They never saw Tom as Voldemort anymore. While Tom still had a few aspects of his personality, he had the ability to feel love, and so he was a completely different person in their eyes.

"Good." Harry said quietly, watching closely as Tom leaned towards the glass as the snake raised it's head, and began to hiss under his breath.

\--

"Get the post, Dudley." Vernon grumbled.

"Make Harry get it." Came the whining reply.

"Get the post, Harry."

"Make Dudley get it." Harry replied.

"Hit him with your Smeltings stick, Dudley."

Dudley, with a malicious glint in his beady little eyes, raised his Smeltings stick and attempted to whack Harry in the shins. However, it was thankfully stopped in time by Tom grabbing it, and shooting Dudley a glare that could kill.

Walking into the hall, Harry grumbled to himself how Dudley was a spoilt child and how he was a nasty piece of shit, as he picked up a stack of envelopes left on the doormat. He bent down, despite a few of his bruises from Dudley testing out his Smeltings stick earlier on him protestng his movements, and scooped them up off the floor.

He flipped through the letters, a bunch of them being bills or letters from Aunt Marge, Harry's body gave an involuntry shudder at the thought of her, and quickly noticed three thivk yellow envelopes. He grabbed them, grinning to himself, and quickly stuffed them into the cupboard as he walked past it to get to the kitchen.

Putting on a straight face and an air of nonchalance, Harry slowly waljed through the kitchen door and handed the letters to his uncle. Catching the eyes of his brothers, he discreetly gestured towards the cupboard with a small jerk of his head. Tom and Severus looked at each other before getting to their feet.

"Where do you three think your going?" Petunia asked suspiciously, wrinkling her nose as if she had just smelled something foul.

"Just back to our cupboard." Severus answered calmly. It would do them no favours to draw their attention too soon, not before they had their school stuff at least.

Retreating into their cupboard, Tom switched on the light as Harry passed out the envelopes. Each letter was adressed to them in emerald coloured ink.

Mr. H. Potter

The Cupboard Under the Stairs

Number 4, Private Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

Harry excitedly ripped open his letter and quickly read through it, hardly believing he was going back to Hogwarts. His home.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl no later than July 31st.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

Deputy Headmistress.

"This is strange." He heard Severus mutter from beside him as he read over his letter.

"What is?" Tom asked.

After showing him his envelope, Tom had to stifle a chuckle of amusement.

Mr. S. Potter

The Cupboard Under the Stairs

Number 4, Private Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

"What's so funny?" Harry asked in confusion, looking at the letter. "What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing is wrong with it." Tom assured him. "It's just..."

"It says Potter." Severus intergected. "It will quickly get very confusing for both us and the teachers, since we are always together anyway." He explained.

"It certainly will take some getting used to." Tom mused, "They won't be calling us Snape and Riddle anymore, it will take some getting used to."

Harry leaned over Tom's shoulder to look at his letter.

Mr. T. Potter

The Cupboard Under the Stairs

Number 4, Private Drive

Little Whinging

Surrey

"It's going to be strange not being the only Potter at school." Harry mutered to himself.

"Okay, well, we better get on with the plan, or we'll run out of time," Tom said, stuffing his letter into his pocket. 'As evidence of mistreatement' he had said. Obviously he was planning something. "Everyone know what they're doing?"

Harry and Severus nodded.

"Great, so lets go."

"We're going to the park!" Harry shouted as he and the other two left the cupboard.

"What are you three freaks going on about?" Vernon roared, stomping into the hall. "You three have chores to do!" He spat at the visciously.

"We'll do them when we get back from the park." Said Severus simply, opening the door and stepping outside.

Vernon seemed to swell to twice his usual size, which couldn't have been healthy for him, and his faced turned an alarming shade of red and purple. "NO YOU WILL NOT1 I WILL NOT HAVE YOU THREE BEING SUCH UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BRATS BY TAKING ADVANTAGE OF MY FAMILY'S KIND HEARTED DECISION TO TAKE YOU IN AND THEN EXPECT TO GIVE NOTHING IN RETURN!" Vernon roared into their faces, it seemed very possible that he could explode any moment. "YOU WILL DO YOUR CHORES RIGHT NOW-"

He was cut off in his rant by Tom dragging Harry outside with him and slamming the door in his face. It would surely get him a punishment later, but they all breathed a sigh of relief that they didn't have to listen to that anymore.

Hissing a quick goodbye to Nagini, who had been hiding out in the garden, and promising to bring her back a few dead rats for her dinner, they walked for a short while to get out of the range of the blood wards, before ducking out of site and aparating to the Leaky Cauldron.

Unfortunately, due to Dumbledore having the key to their trust vault, they couldn't simply go into Diagon Alley to do their shopping. Instead, they went to the post shop in order to send off their acceptance leters to Hogwarts and to ask for someone to help with their shopping, as well as their 'money problem'.

After a tiring day, they bought Nagini a small bag of dead rats, and apparated back to Little Whinging, spent a fun day at the park, and returned to Private Drive to a very angry Dursley family.


	3. Diagon Alley

Tom, Severus and Harry were anxiously awaiting the arrival of their escort. They were currently cleaning the kitchen with their rubber gloves on and clothes pegs on their noses to stop the smell of cleaning supplies from burning their noses.

They had recieved a reply to their letter, saying that they would be more than happy to send an escort for them and that everything was sorted out at the bank with their fianances. They had planned endlessly for today.

It was extremely important that today went according to plan. In order to avoid being manipulated, politically and emotionally, they needed to gain control of their vaults and earn a good standing at Gringotts.

The doorbell rang and Harry was at the door almost instantly. He opened the door to be met with a warm smile from none other than Rubeus Hagrid, the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. Harry needed to almost physically restrain himself from rushing into the large man's arms and giving him a massive hug. However a warning look from Severus held him back.

Right, it would look weird for him to hug Hagrid, who as far as he was concerned, was a complete stranger. Tom decided to take the lead for this one.

"Hello sir, who might you be?" He asked politely. Despite knowing that Hagrid was a good person, Tom had never really liked him. He was never particuarly fond of half creatures.

"Sir? Oh my, no sir with me Tom." Hagrid chuckled joyfully. "Just call me Hagrid. Tis was everyone else does. I'm 'ere as yer escort from Hogwarts."

Of course, that was when Uncle Vernon just had to make his appearance at last.

"What the devil is this? Who is that beast?" He turned to Harry, expecting an answer as he was still holding onto the door.

"Er..."

"Me names Hagrid, Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. I'm 'ere as the school respresentative an' to take these boys 'ere shoppin fer school stuff." Hagrid replied cheerfully, completely missing the darkening look on Vernon's face.

"I WILL NOT ALLOW THIS" Uncle Vernon bellowed loudly. "WE SWORE WHEN WE TOOK THOSE LITTLE FREAKS IN THAT WE WOULD PUT A STOP TO THAT RUBBISH."

"Youknew?" Harry exclaimed, keeping with the script. "You knew magic existed and you never told us?!"

"Ye didn't know?" Hagrid asked weakly, looking back and forth between Vernon and Harry as the argument played out.

"I AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TEACH YOU MAGIC TRICKS. WE SWORE WE WOULD STAMP THAT UNNATURALNESS OUT OF YOU THREE FOR GOOD."

Hagrid turned to Vernon immidiately, furious. "Don't youeverinsult Ablus Dumbledore infront of me." He said darkly, pointing his pink umbrella at Vernon's face, making him blubber in fear.

Harry felt Tom and Severus discreetly maneuver themselves and Harry through the doorway and away from the conflict.

Tom pointedly cleared his throught.

Hagrid seemed to snap out of his dark haze of his dark haze of anger immidiately.

"Righ', Let's go you three and get yer stuff. I'll be speakin with Dumbledore abou' this later, don't you worry." Hagrid assured them as he slammed the door on Vernon Dursley's outraged face. Soon enough, all four of them had boarded a train and were quickly on their way to the leaky cauldron.

Harry could barely restrain himself throughout the entire journey due to his excitement. It had been too long since he had been to Diagon Alley and he couldn't wait to see it again.

It took a joint effort of Tom, Severus and Harry to keep Hagrid from talking too loudly about muggles or all the different breeds of magical creatues during their journey. Although from all the confused and disturbed looks they received, it clearly hadn't worked. Judging from Tom's face, he was clearly losing his patiance fast as well. He never had been a patient person, and neither had he ever liked Hagrid either when they had gone to school together either.

From the looks of it, Severus was close to snapping as well. Harry, however, was hanging on Hagrid's every word. He had missed his old friend dearly once he had died in his old life and he was eager to respark their connection.

Finally, they had arrived at their destination.

"This is it," said Hagrid, coming to a halt, "the Leaky Cauldron. It's a famous place."

It was a tiny, grubby looking pub. No one who walked passed ever even glanced at it. Harry knew that there were muggle repelling charms all over the place.

Hagrid quickly steered them inside the pub with a giant gentle hand on their backs.

There was a balled, hunched-backed looking bartender who was cleaning some shot glasses, a group of giggling witches sipping some sherry in a darkened corner, and some hunkered down man at a bar stool who seemed as if the weight of the world was on his shoulders. Chatter seemed to stop as they walked in. Everyone seemed to know Hagrid and greeted him with a friendly wave and an idle inquirey about his health. All in all, it was a friendly atmosphere.

"The usual, Hagrid?" Tom, the bartender, asked.

"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business." Hagrid replied cheerfully, gesturing to the three brothers, not knowing the drama he had just caused.

Harry tried his best to hide his grimace as all heads turned in their direction.

He immidiately saw a transformation in Tom. He straightened his back, hung his hands loosely at his sides, although Harry could see that if he had had a wand on him, he would have been able to access it very quickly. His face turned almost emotionless, if it were not for his eyes, which Harry could see were flickering worriedly between Sev, Harry and the crowd of onlookers.

He looked like the perfect pureblood prince.

Severus, on the otherhand, seemed to revert back to the days when he seemed to have a permemnant sneer plastered on his face. He looked at the witches and wizerds gawking at them with the utmost revultion, although he quickly tried to hide it.

Harry, meanwhile, desperately tried to hide behind his older brothers. He felt very uncomfortable with both strangers and crowds. Something which had passed on from his past life.

That was one of the things that the three of them had noticed growing up. While they had new lives, the knowledge of older men and extra maturity which an eleven year old just shouldn't have, they were still the same people beneath it all. Due to having grown up together though, they had an extra pillar of support which none of them had had in their past lives, which had ultimately changed them for the better.

Tom was very mature. He knew the ins and outs of pureplood society and knew how to act accordingly. He was the planner. He was always a least two steps ahead of everyone and he could manipulate a situation to give himself the advantage. He was a force to be reckoned with. Many would see him as emotionally closed off, and while he may be for the majority of people, was always warm towards his friends and of course, his brothers.

Severus, while also mature, still held grudges. He wanted to do things right in this life by steering clear of Dumbledore and being able to steer his godson, Draco Malfoy, away from the path of the Death Eaters. He was as passionate as ever when it came to his studies, especially potions of course. His goal was to mainly to help some of the younger students away from the dark arts.

Meanwhile, Harry remained quite insecure. It was a habit he couldn't shake off, to always second-guess himself and to try and not bring attention to himself. Ironic, considering who he was, who he and his brothers now were. This time around, Harry was determined to train himself in not only dueling, but in different kinds of spells and defensive magic. He was determined to prevent as many deaths as possible. To do that, he first of all needed to do well in school, and so he was more studious and focused in this life than he had been last time. Ron had often convinced him to leave his homework or his studies to go outside and do quidditch, but he wouldn't be sidetracked this time.

The first step, in all these new life revolutions however, was to get this shopping trip over and done with.

"Good Lord," said the bartender Tom, peering closer at the trio. "Bless my soul, it's the Potter brother's," he whispered. No matter how quiet it was spoken, it echoed all across the room, assuring the everyone could hear.

He hurried out from behind the bar, almost breaking the glass he had dropped on the counter in his haste, and clasped Tom's hands in his. He looked at the three of them in awe.

"Welcome back, young Mr Potter's, welcome back."

Harry was once again struck speechless, he had forgotten what this moment was like. Tom was very carefully shaking the man's hand, and then subtley wiped it on Dudley's old shirt which he had on, while the bartender moved on to shake Sevrus's hand, and then Harry.

It was like that was some sort of silent que, as quite suddenly, there was the sound of multiple chairs scraping back against the floor, and they were surrounded by well-wishers and teary eyes. Their hands were being shaken, they were being stared at adoringly. It left the boys all feeling quite uncomfortable and trapped.

"So proud, young Potters, so proud."

"I've always wanted to shake your hand-"

"Delighted, my boys, absolutely delighted, I simply can't tell you-"

It took ten minutes of this until Hagrid finally decided to take pity on them and try and help them out. However, he couldn't be heard over all the chatter.

"EXCUSE ME!"

All heads turned as one to the direction of the voice. Surprisingly, it was actually Severus.

"If you would please excuse us." Tom continued on for him. "But i'm afraid that we have plenty of shopping to do and not a lot of time. It had been lovely talking with you all."

The crowd of people suddenly just seemed to realise what they were doing and immidiately parted for them.

"Terribly sorry-"

"I do hope you enjoy Hogwarts, i know i did-"

"Rightly so boys, rightly so-"

Harry felt bad for them, so he thanked them for their time as they left, taking Tom and Severus's hands in his and all but ran out of the back entrance towards the brick wall, gesturing to Hagrid to follow.

Hagrid seemed to crumle under Tom's unwavering stare.

"Sorry 'bout that boys. Just thought yed like te see them an all. They're all mighty greatful an' all for that night."

"Did you never stop to think that we were uncomfortable with being thrust into a room of strangers like that?" Tom demanded icily.

While Harry did agree that it wasn't the best method to handle it, he decided to defend his large friend.

"It's alright Tom, it wasn't all that bad, lets just get our shopping done yeah?"

The look that Tom sent him obviously said that itwasn'tokay, but he didn't say anything. Severus just seemed indifferent.

"Eh, righ'," mumbled Hagrid, and he began tapping some of the bricks with his pink umbrella. The bricks began to quiver and a small hole appeared in the middle, which grew large enough to fit a person, and Hagrid if he ducked down low enough. When finnished, it had turned into a cobblestone archway leading into a bustling busy street with shoppers all in bright colours window shopping and walking with their families.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley," Hagrid said proudly as he watched the young boy's faces light up in excitement. No matter how many times they went to Diagon Alley, the novelty never wore off. Eatching magic being practiced out in the open, cauldrons for sale and small explosions coming out of joke shops, quidditch fanatics drooling over the latest racing brooms. It was like coming home.

Turning back, he saw the same feelings mirrored in his brother's faces. They were obviously affected by it too. After all, during the majority of their past lives, there were wars going on and so there had never really been any carefree moments like these that they had witnessed.

Severus qietly grabbed both Harry's and Tom's hands and they simply took everything in. For today was the beginning of their journey. Their journey to greatness, to a better world, and to a better life. They would save everyone.

"Righ' then, we better get headin' teh Gringotts, eh? Can't do any of yer shoppin' withou' any of yer money now can we?" Came Hagrid's voice from behind them.

Harry gave Sev's hand a quick squeeze, letting him take the lead for now.

"How will we be able to afford any of our school things? Is there some sort of school fund for children who can't afford their supplies? Because otherwise i'm afraid that i'll have to tell you that we havn't any money," Sev said thoughtfully.

Hagrid seemed to be honestly shocked by what Severus had said.

"Wha- Did yeh really think tha' yer parents left yeh with no money? Don' yeh worry, yeh've got a vault in Gringotts, every wizerd does."

And with that, the three small boys followed the giant of a man through Diagon Alley, passing the local potions store, robes shops and joke shops alike. The glint in Tom's eyes when he glanced at Diagon Alley's Zonko's joke shop out of the corner of his eyes almost gave Harry the chills. He knew Tom liked pranks, now that he was finally able to be a kid again (with normal emotions, because he hadn't been concieved because of a love potion) and he seemed to take great pleasure in both annoying people and making people laugh.

When they were faced with the massive white-marble building, he couldn't help but admire it's beauty. It truly was awe inspiring.

Once they had passed the large bronze doors, which Harry knew held anti-glamour charms, they were faced with a slightly smaller set of silver doors, which held the morbid poem that Luna had always loved.

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn.

For if you seek beneath our floors

A treasure that was never yours,

Theif, you have been warned, beware

Of finding more than treasure there.

He grinned, and couldn't help but remember the time that he, Hermione and Ron had broken into Gringotts and had escaped on the back of a dragon.

Fun times.

He felt Severus elbow him in the stomach to get his attention, as if he already knew what he had been thinking about. He probably had to be honest, they knew everything about eachother.

They were suddenly face to face with what must have been one of the largest goblins Harry had ever seen, gaurding the entrance. It was very unnerving to stand there while the goblin eyed with with obvious distrust.

After what seemed like hours, the goblin gave a slight bow of their head and the were allowed inside.

"Yeh'd be mad teh try an' rob it," Hagrid muttered to them as they walked.

They walked into a large marble hall with doors, which must have been offices, off to the side. There were also goblins who were working at their desks, some of which Harry saw were actually weighing rubies.

The goblin at the front desk, who Harry recognised as Griphook, took notice of them.

"How may i help you, wizards?" He smiled at them, while showing an alarming amount of sharp, jagged teeth.

"We're here teh take some money outta the Potter's vault." Hagrid said cheerfully. Griphook peered over his desk at the small trio. The brother's, remembering Severus's lectures on Goblin manners, bowed their heads slightly in Griphook's direction, while maintaining eye contact as a sign of respect. Griphook looked momentarily taken aback, however he quickly recovered and asked for the vault key. However Harry was pleased to notice that it was asked with a smile that had slightly less teeth on display.

Hagrid seemed to rumage around in his pockets for a bit, scattering things all over the poor goblin's desk, before producing a small, intricately designed golden key. The design on it reminded Harry of a forest. He also took out a very crumpled looking envelope, with a 'Top-Secret' stamp on it.

Harry shared a significant look with Tom and Sev, but decided not to ask about it this time around. Lest anyone get suspicious or wary around them.

"It's fer you-know-what in vault seven hundred n' thirteen." Hagrid whispered.

Griphook scrutinsed the key for a few moments, waving his clawed hand over it a few times, before he seemed satisfied that it was a valid key, and nodded sharply.

"Follow me then," he ordered, walking briskly out pf the hall and towards a maze of corridors. After a few turns, they were led to the famous Gringotts cart.

After they all clambered on, with very little space between them all, they were off. They were hurtling through a maze of passageways which made it impossible to remember which turns they had taken or when. You couldn't even guess how far down they were, but he knew it was deep.

Hagrid looked like he might be sick, the poor bloke.

Harry though, was enjoying the ride immensley, and had repeatedly had Tom grab at the back of his top to make sure he didn't fall out. Severus, now that he looked at him, looked slightly green as well.

They finally stopped at a very familiar small door in the cave wall. While the three boys immidiately jumped out so they could enter, Hagrid could be seen leaning on the side of the wall to stop himself from trembling.

Griphook unlocked the door with the shiny golden key, and the Potter treasure was revealed. There were mounds of golden galleons, columns of silver sickles and heaps of bronze knuts. It was like a mini treasure trove.

Harry was just thankful that the Dursley's never knew aout this, or it would have all been gone in a flash.

As Harry was beginning to load some of the treasure into a bag that Sev was holding up for him, Tom was trying to think of ways to lose Hagrid, or to get rid of him somehow. They needed to be prepared for Hogwarts, but not all of their needed shopping was strictly legal for a group of children to buy, and so they would need to sneak into Knockturn Alley somehow. To do that though, Hagrid couldn't be with them, as he was extremely loyal to Dumbledore and would report back.

"Righ' then, shall we go?" Hagrid asked.

"Sounds like a good idea," replied Tom, while discreetly sending Griphook a significant look, which had the Goblin nodding.

"Here is your key, Heir Potter," Griphook said, while handing Tom the small golden key.

Hagrid seemed quite alarmed by this.

"Oh it's no trouble boys, I'll just hold on teh it, just so it dosn't get lost or anythin' like tha'," he said nervously.

"That's quite alright Hagrid, we are quite responsible, it won't be getting lost." Tom said sweetly, but Harry and Sev could hear an undertone of anger. It was obvious that Hagrid was under orders to keep the key in his possession, amd the only person that Hagrid would ever follow orders for was Dumbledore. But then the question was: What did Dumbledore want with the key to the Potter trust vault?

"Really boys, It's quite alrigh', It'll be no trou-"

"I assure you, Hagrid," Tom responded icily, "That we are more than capable of looking after our vault key. After all, it is the key to thePottervault, is it not? Therefore it isourresponsibility, and ours alone. Trust me when i say that it is not leaving our sight, or protection."

Harry wasn't sure if Hagrid picked up on the hidden threat, but either way, he knew that the argument was closed and not to discuss it again. He rather meekly looked away from them, and when he thought they weren't looking, he had a panicked look to his face which made Harry feel bad, but it was essencial that they had control of their own vault.

Once they all got back to the front doors of Gringotts, Hagrid seemed more sick than ever, and, after making sure they would be fine on their own for a bit, went to the pub for 'a small pick-me-up drink'. The brothers stood there at the front door, waving goodbye to him until he dissapeared from view, and then as one they turned around and re-entered Gringotts. Griphook seemed to have been expecting the.

"What can i do for you, young Heirs?" Griphook asked politely, with a respectful dip of his head that surprised Harry slightly. Since Tom was the best with pureblood etticate as well as cultures for different species, he took the lead for this.

"I wish for an audiance with Director Ragnock, fierce goblin warrior." He murmered quietly, while Harry and Severus were watching for evesdroppers closeby.

Again, the goblin seemed surprised at the manners being shown to him, as well as the respect.

"I shall request an appointment for you, young sirs, please wait here," Griphook replied.

They watched as he dissappeared behind a heavy marble door. while they all continued to look around warily. What they wanted to discuss was of a private matter, and they didn't know who they could or couldn't trust at that moment.

After a few more minutes of waiting, Griphook returned.

"Director Ragnock will speak to you now. However, be warned that you should not take this lightly, as the Director is a very busy goblin, and we are only making this exception for this meeting due to the Potter family being one of our oldest clients," he sneered.

The boys nodded slightly as they were ushered into a grand office. There were many weapons hanging from the walls which looked newly polished and sharpened, as a reminder as to who they were visiting and how dangerous they were. Sitting behind what must have been a very expensive desk, was the largest goblin Harry had ever seen. He had battle scars all over his face and on what was visible of the rest of his body. He wore his armour as if it were a part of who he was and looked very comfortable wearking it. He was also glaring at them.

"This must be of grave importance for you to disrupt my day," he grumbled darkly. "Speak your purpose, before i decide you are a waste of my time. Time is money boys."

Tom immidiately started speaking.

"We have several important matters which need to be discussed. The first of which are three new vault keys, as well as the destruction of any keys currently in anyone elses possession. We have reason to believe that there are untrustworthy people who have been acessing our vaults."

Director Ragnock seemed to be considering Tom as he spoke, looking for any signs of deception.

"We are willing to pay double the usual fee, of course, if this stays quiet." Tom continued.

"That can be done," Ragnock said slowly, "All that we need from you is to sign a bank transaction slip for the fee, as well as all three of the necessary people to sign this for the new keys." He continued, and held out some papers for Tom to take. Tom signed the bank transaction slip, and then all three of them signed for their new keys.

They were given three new keys of a different design, this one reminding Harry of an intricate snowflake. They quickly slipped the keys in their pockets and continued with why else they were there.

"We have also come here to see which Heirships are available to us. We are aware that we are eligable for more than one, however we are not sure of just how many," continued Severus.

"You do indeed have many Heirships available to you, however it is not up to me if you are able to claim them. It is all decided by the family magic," explained Ragnock.

"Family magic?" Harry asked, confused, he'd never heard of such a thing in his past life. But then again, his past life had been full of war, and he had never had a chance to properly train himself for taking up a Lordship, to he was practically clueless.

"Indeed. Once you take the ring in the palm of your hand, you push your magic into the ring and the family magic will judge if you are worthy of the Heirship or Lordship of that family. Family magic is almost sentient. It looks for certain characteristics of a person, views their lives, their personalities, their choices, and then it will either accept you or deny you. You do not necessarily have to be blood related to accept a family ring. Magic herself may deem you worthy for the trial, either by right of conquest or by being true of heart." Ragnock explained.

Harry was truly fascinated, and he would have asked more if they were not pressed for time.

"How do we know which Heirships we qualify for?" Severus asked.

"Simple. Drop some blood onto this paper, and your magic will do the rest. We shall see your worth." Ragnock smirked greedily, while pushing three pieces of paper towards them, reminding Harry just who they were dealing with.

Harry decided to go first, and slit the palm of his hand with a dagger that Ragnock provided for him, and was soon followed by Tom and Sev. The blood quickly spilled onto the paper, and began to write itself.

**Harry Evans Potter**

**Born- 31st July 1980, 11:59 PM**

**Blood Status: Half-Blood**

**Magical Core: ****Light**

**Father: James Potter (Deceased)**

**Mother: Lil Potter nee Evans (Deceased)**

**Godfather: Sirius Black (Imprisoned)**

**Godmother: Alice Longbottom (Deemed Insane)**

**Confirmed Inheritance**

**Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter (Heirship) (Paternal)**

**Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Black (Heirship) (Chosen by current Lord)**

**Most Ancient and Worthy House of Peverell (Heirship) (Paternal)**

**Most Ancient and Most Regal House of Emerys (Heirship) (Chosen by Magic)**

**Most Ancient and Most Wise House of Ravenclaw (Heirship) (Maternal)**

**Natural Abilities:**

**Metamorphmagus (100% Block by Albus Dumbledore)**

**Natural Animagus (100% Block by Albus Dumbledore)**

**Parselmouth**

**Charms placed upon person:**

**Tracking (Albus Dumbledore)**

**Weak Confidance (Albus Dumbledore)**

**Magical core (Blocked 70% by Albus Dumbledore)**

**Loyalty charms (Keyed to Albus Dumbledore, Light side, Molly Weasley, Ronald Weasley, Ginerva Weasley)**

**Hatred charms (Keyed to Slytherins, Severus Snape, Dark Wizards, Malfoy family, Voldemort)**

**Memory Charm**

**Thomas James Potter**

**Born- 31st July 1980, 11:40 PM**

**Blood Status: Half-Blood**

**Magical Core: Grey**

**Father: James Potter (Deceased)**

**Mother: Lily Potter nee Evans (Deceased)**

**Godfather: Remus Lupin (Unfit)**

**Godmother: Amelia Bones (Alive)**

**Confirmed Inheritance:**

**Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter (Heirship) (Paternal)**

**Most Ancient and Worthy House of Peverell (Heirship) (Paternal)**

**Most Ancient and Most Regal House of LeFay (Heirship) (Chosen by magic)**

**Most Ancient and Most Cunning House of Slytherin (Heirship) (Right of Conquest)**

**Noble House of Lupin (Heirship) (Chosen by current Lord)**

**Natural Abilities:**

**Natural Animagus (Blocked 100% by Albus Dumbledore)**

**Parselmouth**

**Charms placed upon person:**

**Tracking (Albus Dumbledore)**

**Magical core (Blocked 60% by Albus Dumbledore)**

**Anger (Albus Dumbledore)**

**Loyalty Charms (Keyed to Albus Dumbledore, Light side, Molly Weasley, Ronald Weasley, Ginerva Weasley)**

**Hatred Charms (Keyed to Slytherins, Severus Snape, Dark Wizards, Malfoy family, Voldemort)**

**Memory Charms**

**Severus Fleamont Potter**

**Born- 31st July 1980, 11:50 PM**

**Blood Status: Half-Blood**

**Magical Core: Dark**

**Father: James Potter (Deceased)**

**Mother: Lily Potter nee Evans (Deceased)**

**Godfather: Severus Snape (Alive)**

**Godmother: -**

**Confirmed Inheritance:**

**Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter (Heirship) (Paternal)**

**Most Ancient and Most Worthy House of Peverell (Heirship) (Paternal)**

**Most Ancient and Most Honourable House of Hufflepuff (Heirship) (Chosen by Magic)**

**Most Ancient and Most Brave House of Gryffindor (Heirship) (Chosen by Magic)**

**Most Noble House of Prince (Heirship) (Chosen by current Lord)**

**Natural Abilities:**

**Natural Animagus (100% Block by Albus Dumbledore)**

**Parselmouth**

**Charms placed upon person:**

**Tracking (Albus Dumbledore)**

**Spite (Albus Dumbledore)**

**Magical core (Blocked 65% by Albus Dumbledore)**

**Loyalty Charms (Keyed to Albus Dumbledore, Light side, Molly Weasley, Ronald Weasley, Ginerva Weasley)**

**Hatered Charms (Keyed to Slytherins, Severus Snape, Dark Wizerds, Malfoy family, Voldemort)**

**Memory Charms**

Tom and Severus, who were reading the parchment from over his shoulder, were disgusted. They knew Dumbledore had been a bit manipulative in their past lives, but they never knew he had done this.

"He blocked our magical cores?" Severus seethed. He was absolutely furious. Did Dumbledore not know the dangers of doing that?!

"HE DID WHAT?! THAT COULD PERMINANTLY DAMAGE OUR MAGICAL CORE! Thatfucking dipshitcould have seriously damaged our magical potential forever! That couldkillus in a couple of years if it's not removed," Tom seethed.

Harry suddenly found himself in the middle of a two-way bone crushing hug from both his brothers. Tom was petting his hair and cooing at him while Sev was rubbing soothing circles onto his back. Honestly! He may appreciate their actions, because it showed that they loved him, but he was not a child!

"Get off me before I hurt you," he grumbled.

Seeming to sence his irritation, they reluctantly parted, and took a closer look at the parchment.

"We actually have a lot more Heirships than we thought we did. Although this is an advantage right?" Questioned Sev.

"Yes, don't worry, this all fits into our plan. Since I'm going into politics anyway, and this gives us more seats in the Wizengamot when we are ready to make our appearance there, it will give us a good head start," assured Tom, his eyes gleaming with all his newly formed plans.

"Although, I'm surprised that we're actually the heirs to the founders. Sev actually managed to get Gryffindor as well," Harry chuckled, shaking in his mirth.

"Oh shut up. I can't believe this!"

"Don't worry Sev, this is a good thing. This means that we technically own Hogwarts,"Tom smirked.

"But what can we do with that?"

"Once we get recognised by the other Lords at the Wizengamot, which they have to do once they see our Lord rings, then we have the power to dictate what happens at Hogwarts. Including who the Headmaster is."

Oh. Oh that was absolutely evil. That malicious gleam in his eyes totally made sence now.

"All we need is for him to slip up. For him to make a mistake-"

"And then we move in for the kill."

"Uh, i hate to burst your bubble guys, but we can't reveal ourselves too soon. We need to gain ourselves supporters first, or they'll never accept or trust us in our decisions. We need to wait a couple of years anyway, because we can only recieve our Lordships and Heirships at 13," Harry interjected.

Harry chose to ignore Sev's annoyed grumbles.

"What we need to do is get rid of all these charms and blocks. We're lucky that that hasn't perminantly damaged our cores already," Harry continued.

"That we know of," Severus muttered darkly.

"I can't wait to find out our animagus forms though." Harry said excitedly.

All three of them were getting very excited. They now had access to abilities they had never known about before. This opened a lot of possabilities to them. They were interupted in their planning, however, by a loud cough behind them.

Right. Director Ragnock. Completely forgot about him.

"It appears that you three will be some veryvaluableallies in the future. Veryprofitableas well, if your inheritances have anything to say about it," Ragnock said.

The grin he sent them had Harry very nervous.

"Not to worry young lads. Gringotts treats their more valuable customers with great care. And with you boys as the Heirs of the Founders, you boys are practically royalty. Not to mention of Emerys and LeFay."

Harry and Sev let out sighs of relief at this. Tom, however, was frowning worriedly at something.

"Could you please check the transactions of all of our accounts please? We only foun dout that we were wizards recently, sir, and we only recieved our vault key today, so i can't trust that there hasn't been anyone using our key behind our backs. Especially with this new information about Albus Dumbledore come to light just now," Tom asked politely.

"Of course, i will check immediately," Rognock said.

While Rognock was checking their account audits, the young brothers were discussing their next move, particuarly which Lordship rings to claim right now, and which ones to claim later on. They didn't want to slip up and have anyone figuring out their plans. They also needed to get their wands right after Gringotts so they could put some glamour charms on the Deathly Hallows marks on their hands, lest someome recognise it and make any sort of conection towards them and the Deathy Hallows. They were pretty confidant that the average person wouldn't recognise it, however, people like Mr Lovegood and Dumbledore definantly would. That was a risk they couldn't take.

"It appears, that there have been someilleagalbank transactions made by Albus Dumbledore over the past 10 years from the Potter account. He has stolen approximately 10 million Galleons, which have been distributed into accounts for Molly, Ronald and Ginerva Weasley, a family called the Dursleys, as well as Albus Dumbledores personal accounts and an account for 'The light side's funding'."

The three boys were absolutely fuming by the time Ragnock had finnished talking. He had stolen money from the Potter account. From the account of a family who had fought for him, for the world against Voldemort. They were absolutely disgusted by his actions.

Harry was relieved when Tom decided to take charge, otherwise he feared he might have exploded in his rage.

"I want his accounts frozen, Director Ragnock, and i want our money to be given back to us, with interest. Make up an excuse or something, but we don't want him to know of our knowledge of him and his actions. We will reward you with the interest money if you could do this for us," Tom ordered respectfully. He was trying to get on the goblin's good side, and having a level head and making sure that being on your side would be profitable was a step in the right direction.

"Of course, young Heir, i will get started immidiately. I understand your situation and i assure you that the goblins are on your side. There is no greater sin here in Gringotts than theft. I believe this is a start to a great partnership, young Heirs," Ragnock grinned evilly, holding out a clawed hand for them to shake.

They all shaked the head goblin's hand in agreement. It was a huge advantage to have the goblin's favour.

"We will be running a full check on all of our customer's accounts. It wil help us to avoid suspicion as it is something we do every now and then. However for now, i reccomend you three see one of our best healers to get rid of all of those charms and blocks," Rognock told them.

Harry wasn't aware that goblins also had healers, although he must admit he didn't really know much about goblins in general apart from Binn's classes about the goblin rebellions, which he had mostly slept through.

"How do goblin healers differ from wizard healers, sir?" He decided to ask.

"Goblin magic is very different from wizard magic, and can heal some things that the average healer could not," he said cryptically, and Harry realised that he wouldn't be getting anything else out of him about the subject.

He decided to just nod his head and get it over with.

"Follow me, young Heirs."

The three boys followed Director Ragnock out of his office and into some kind of medical ward. The ceilings were high and the wealth of Gringotts was clearly on display due to the intricately designed windows and pillars, as well as the many statues of great goblin warriors.

They were greeted by a shorter goblin, who was wearing some sort of pink robe which clashed horribly with their long ginger hair. Harry could only assume that this was a female goblin, although she looked no different from a male goblin.

"Hello there, I am Siretalon and i shall be your healer today. I'll start by giving you an examination, if thats alright?" She asked politely. Harry had to admit, she was a lot more pleasant that Ragnock.

"That will be fine, thankyou," Sev said.

They laid down on some medical beds as Sireclaw waved what appeared to be a metal version of a wizard wand over the three of them, and then frowned worriedly at the results.

"Were you boys aware that you are carrying a Horcrux inside of you?" She asked uncertainly.

The brothers tried their best to look confused, and asked what a horcrux was, as they weren'y supposed to have heard what it was yet.

"It's where someone latches on a peice of their soul onto an object, or in this case, you three. You each have one. Harry on his forehead, Tom just below his right ear and Severus just below his left. Under those scars of your." She explained calmy, obviously trying not to frighten them.

Of course, they already knew about the horcruxes. After that Halloween night that killed their parents, they had again survived the killing curse. Of course they still didn't know how, but Tom suspected an ancient blood ward. Which would make sence because it tied in with what Dumbledore said about the blood wards at Private Drive. Then again, they couldn't really trust Dumbledore now could they?

When they were hit by the killing curse, Harry had been in the middle, with Tom and Severus hugging him from either side. His forehead was hit, and his brothers were hit from the side, hence why their lightning bolt scars were on the side of their necks, just under their ears.

"It will take some time, but i assure you i can remove it safely, not to worry."

They laid still and tried to relax as they felt her magic wash over them. The could feel it tickling as it removed all the charms and blocks on their magical abilities.

Then came the pain.

He felt as if his head was being split open. He felt shreiking and screams echo in his mind. He felt blood and black goo dripping from his scar. He wanted to die. It was worse than the cruciatus curse. He wasn't sure if he was screaming or not, but he wouldn't be surprised if he was.

As soon as it started, however, it was over.

He was exhausted. He wanted to go to sleep and never wake up again. It felt like dead weights were on his body and he couldn't get up.

And yet he had never felt so light, so happy. It was similiar to when his metamorphmagus abilities had awakened. It was as if for his entire life, he had constantly been under strain and preassure. Not noticable when it was there, but life changing when it was gone. He felt like he could take on the world. Nothing was holding him back. He felt like floating, cheering.

It was pure europhia.

When he was able to, he sat up and looked around. To the side, he could also see his brothers waking up as well, and saw similiar looks of happiness and relief on their faces. They had a massive load off of their backs.

Thanking Siretalon, the brothers quickly excited Gringotts, keen to get their shopping done.

"RIGHT." Harry said loudly. "Whats next on the list of things to do?"

Severus needed a minute to compose himself, much to Harry's ire, before he answered.

"Our wands are next. Unfortunately, with our magic being extremely powerful in this lifetime, an average wand would combust and exlode if we ever tried to use one. Due to us pushing our magic through it to create a spell."

"Which means," Tom continued, "that our wands will need not one, but multiple cores. Otherwise it will have no chance to contain, control and use our magic. They will also need to be specific and loyal to us, otherwise anyone who gets a hold of uur wands would be getting averypowerful wand."

"Right, so not Ollivander's then? Not that i'm complaining, i always found him creepy as hell, but his wands only have one core each. So where do we get a wand with multiple cores? Custom made possibly?" Harry asked.

"Very perceptive, young Harry." Sev congradulated, earning a sharp glare from Harry.

"Theres a shop in Knockturn Alley called Mykew Gregorovitch Wandcrafter. Whilst wandmakers like Ollivander simply sell ready made wands, wancrafters like Gregorovitch make the wand specifically for the buyer. It's much more compatible that way and so the spells used with your perfect match are much more powerful. It's not illeagal to buy wands there, however the ministry certainly don't like it because it helps to produce stronger witches and wizards, who they see as a threat, so we technically arn't breaking any rules or laws by shopping in Knockturn Alley for our wands." Tom winked at them.

"I see what you mean." Harry agreed. "And anyway, it's not like there was anyone who told us we couldn't go there. After all, we only found out about magic recently, so we have much to learn. We have a cover story and an excuse now, don't we boys?." Harry smiled innocently.

This earned amused chuckles from the oher two, as they entered the shady Alley.

\--

The door to Mykew Gregorovitch Wandcrafter opened with a soft ding, and they were greeted with the sight of a very shady looking man who was hunched over on a desk, mumbling to himself.

Harry exchanged a look with Sev. Was this man really sane?

He suddenly seemed to notice their presence, as he suddenly sat up straight, all trace of mumblings gone, and greeted them.

"Customers!" He grinned, showing off his rotting teeth which almost made Harry gag. Though he refrained from doing so. They needed him to make their wands, after all.

"What's are some little fellas like you doing coming in to my shop?" He asked immidiately, making Harrys eye twitch irritably. He was not that little.

"We would like to purchase three wands." Tom ordered in a dangerous tone, daring him to question.

Taking the hint, the man merely shrugged and got to work. He brought out different types of wood and laid them all out on his desk.

"Hold you hands over the diferent types of wood. You may need more than one. Just pick up whichever type you feel the strongest connection to, give to me and i'll use it in you wands."

Tom ended up having the strongest connection with both Ebony and Yew wood. Severus chose English Oak and Pine, while Harry chose Hawthorn and Black Walnut.

Apparently this made Gregoravitch quite nervous around them.

"Yew is said to have the power of life and death, while Ebony is very powerful and is good for transfiguration. English Oak is a very loyal wood, and when paired with Pine which is made for adaptability, it's a very interesting match. Meanwhile Hawthorn wood is good for healing, and the Black Walnut wood seeks a master with good instincts and judgement. These pairings will truly make powerful wands, however they seem to be powerful contradiction of each other." The wandcrafter mused.

Next, he placed a wide variety of different cores on display. Some of which Harry had never even heard of before.

Tom ended up choosing a strand of Veela hair, a Thunderbird tail feather and a Horned serpent's horn.

"Veela hair is very tempermental. Thunderbird tail feather, a good match for your Ebony wood as it's also good for transfiguration. The Horn of the Horned serpent is an unusual core. It's very sensetive to parsletongue users." He sent a suspicious glance towards Tom while he said this.

"Oh really? That's nice." Tom replied airily.

Gregoravitch just glared at him while Severus chose his wand cores. Gregoravitch just raised his eyebrows at his choices.

"Both of you seem to have... unique tastes. Acromantula venom paraliszes it's victems, often drawn to individuals who have have been the victem of a deep betrayal. Rougarou hair has an affinity for the dark arts, while Dementor blood are drawn to those who have had a rough childhood."

Finally, it was Harry's turn. He looked over the many wand core choices, and wondered what he would match with.

After a while he picked up what looked like a dark grey hair. He had no idea what it was.

"Thestral hair is indeed an unusual core to weild. Not often you come across a wizard who has one in their wand. It is said that a thestral is a death omen, which is actually not true. In fact they are they gateway to viel. The messangers of death. Powerful cores, yes, but quite timid too."

He held his hand over the more common wand cores next, and wasn't all that surprised when he felt warmth spreading up through his fingertips as he came to the phoenix feather. This phoenix feather, however, seemed to have quite a different colouring than the average phoenix. The feather was a beautiful blend of crystal blue and white. It seemed to sparkle in the dimly lit shop.

"Ah." Gregoravitch breathed. "The tail feather of a water phoenix. Known for their youthful looks, and graceful movements. You must be light on your feet, young man, and an excellant duelist."

Harry desperately tried not to blush at the mans words. He did have to admit, over the years he had perfected the art of dueling and sneaking around. It had been essential in the war, and often saved his life.

Spurred on by the man's words, he held his hand over the different cores again, and he eventually picked up what seemed to be a pearl-like scale which shimmered like glitter.

"Now thatisinteresting." The wandcrafter murmered. Oh honestly, what now?

"A scale from a White River Monster. Wands with this core carry a great deal of force and are hard to tame. However, you will never find a more loyal wand. Powerful core combinations indeed." Gregoravitch seemed to be seriously considering prying, or more like demanding, for answers.

"All three of you boys have cores which are in some way related to death. I must say, it makes me nervous for the future to come." He murmered distantly.

"How much for the wands, sir?" Sev asked.

"Oh yes, yes-" He seemed to have broken out of his daze. "You have been very interesting customers, i must say. You each have three cores and two types of wood, the combinations of which are extremely deadly in the wrong hands. I will require thirty Galleons per wand, as well as a drop of blood, for the runes on the wand. It will ensure both the protection of your wands, and that they cannot be used by other witches or wizards." The man explained.

They all pricked their fingers and smeared a drop of blood onto the wood which was going to be used in their wands, and Gregoravitch went to work.

\--

Harry had to admit, the end results were beautiful.

Tom's wand was 13 inches, and had the dark Ebony wood as the base, with the pale Yew wood used in an intricate pattern along the outside of leaves, flower petals and deadly thorns. In Harry's opinion, it fit his personality very well. Beautiful on the outside but deadly on the inside.

Sev's wand was 14 inches and was much lighter than Tom's. His wand seemed to be an entire blend of the two woods, to the point where you couldn't tell where they had been put together. There also seemed to be soft ridges along the handle, to give it a better grip.

Harry's wand was 12 inches, slightly longer than his last wand. The Black Walnut was the main wood, while along the outside, it was covered in a beautiful design of little snowflakes which had been crafted with the ever so slightly lighter Hawthorn wood. If he looked closely, he could also see a slightly blue sheen to the wood. He guessed this was due to the blue phoenix feather being used as a core.

They were all really quite beautiful.

Not wanting to stay any longer though, they quickly paid for their wands, as well as some wand holsters for their arms, and left the shop, and ventured back to Diagon Alley.

They also managed to mutter a quick glamour charm on their Deathly Hallow marks on their hands without anyone noticing. It was completely safe as well, as their wands were not registered by the ministry. And now they could be quite easily hidden in their holster up their sleeves. No one would ever know.

Then they were quickly off to get Harrys eyesight fixed at a shop called Ergies Eyesight Correction. It cost a pretty penny, but it was a huge advantage. He now didn't have to worry about his glasses falling off in a fight, or in Quidditch.

Now, as his brothers said, everyone could see his 'darling eyes'.

Honestly! He was not a girl, thank you very much.

After a fair amount of goggling at the Quidditch store, Sev and Tom managed to drag him to get their trunks. When they entered the shop, they were greeted by a very bored looking young man who looked like he was about to fall asleep at his desk.

"So, three standard trunks for you, then? That will be 90 Galleons."

"Actually sir, we were hoping for some multi-compartment trunks. They are of a better quality and harder to break in to. Much more useful as well." Harry said politely.

Poor lad looked like he'd had the shock of his life. He sat up so quickly that he almost toppled over.

"Ah yes! Our multi-compartment trunks. How mant compartments are you looking for? I'll tell you now though, the more compartments, the higher the price of the trunk." He explained.

"Trust us, price is not an issue. What kind of compartments are available, sir?"

"Well, we have a bedroom, a kitchen, a dining room, a library, a walk-in closet, a Quidditch field, a sitting room, a study, we really do have plenty. Our highest number of compartments in the one trunk, however, is 6."

"We'd like three trunks with a bedroom, a kitchen, a sitting room, a library, a walk-in closet and a study please. How much will that be?" Harry asked.

"That will be 390 Galleons. It's expensive. Are you sure it won't be an issue?" The man asked nervously.

"That's fine." Sev assured, "We'd also like some charms put on it, if you don't mind? Just the standard shrinking, password and anti-theft charms."

"Not a problem." The man assured. "Would you like any customised emblems on your trunks? We have snakes, lions, badgers, eagles, and we even do family emblems."

"That will be all, thank you, we don't require anything else." Tom said.

"Alrighty then, that will be 420 Galleons then."

Sev handed over the required money and the man handed over their trunks after showing them how to shrink them (by tapping them with their wands) and explaining how to set new passwords.

They also ended up getting some backpacks there as well to carry their school books around. Charmed with an undetectable extension charm and a lightweight charm each. Perfect, considering all of the extra studying they were going to be doing.

They ended up deciding to avoid the robe shop until the last possible moment, due to the fact that last time that was where Hagrid had found Harry. They instead went to Slug and Jigger's Apothecary and got their Pewter cauldrons, their brass scales, telescope, glass phials, and their potions ingrediants. At Harry's raised eyebrows, Sev explained that you never knew when you needed a certain potion brewed, and continued to collect some of the more advanced potion ingrediants that they wouldn't even need until NEWT level.

After paying for their many potion ingrediants and other supplies, they went to the local book store, Flourish and Blotts, to buy their first year course books. They then decided to go to the more obscure branches of magics in the shop and shoved a bunch of books in a basket to buy. Tom picked out many books on the Ministry and how it worked, a few books on advanced transfiguration, advanced charms and a book on wards.

Sev collected books about Herbology, mainly because many potions required freshly picked ingrediants and it would be an advantage to own his own garden. He also picked out some books on History of magic, advanced potion making and spell crafting, for a side project. He was very interested in it.

Harry decided on books about healing, ancient runes, arithmitary, and advanced books on defence against the dark arts. He had decided to get a head start on the subjects he was planning to take in third year. He had also decided in this lifetime that he was more interested in trying out for being a Healer, instead of an Auror. He was tired of fighting off all the dark wizards, and wanted a more peaceful life.

They also decided to pick up some books on Occlumency. They were already practicing, and had quite formiddable mindscaped by this point, but they wanted to see if there were any more effective methods of strengthening their mental barriers than meditating.

All of their extra books, as well as some quills and parchment, ended up costing quite a bit. It was worth it in the end though, as they would be better prepared. They were all quite thankful that they had gotten the larger trunks, and were able to fit all of those books in their large library, as a normal trunk wouldn't have been able to fit all of them inside.

They stopped of at Magical Menagerie to get some dead rats for Nagini, and then went to Eyelop's Owl Emporium where Sev got a beautiful black kitten who he named Nyx. Harry was hardly paying attention though. As soon as he had walked through the door, there was a whoosh of wind and the sound of flapping wings, and suddenly Hedwig was resting on Harry's shoulder, gently squeezing his shoulder and affectionately preening his hair.

Harry was almost moved to tears. The last time he saw Hedwig, she had died while taking a killing curse from him. She was the most loyal owl he had ever known, and he loved her dearly.

"Hedwig." he breathed

"Hedwig stopped her preening, and looked directly into his eyes. It was as if she were staring directly into his soul, and he felt a rush of affection and longing and love surrounding him, coming from Hedwig. Did she remember?

"Ah, thats a rare beauty that is. It seems shes chosen you. You've found your familiar."

Harry broke eye contact with Hedwig to see the owner of the shop staring at them with wonder.

"It's a rare thing, but sometimes a magical animal can sense a kindred spirit in a human, and will bond with them. It only happens with the more intelligent animals though, and you cannot force the bond. I am surprised, however, that she was the owl that chose a human. She's certainly got a bad attitude, very proud." The man said.

He merely chuckled at Hedwig's indignant squack.

Hedwig then decided to ignore the shop owner as harry picked out a bird cage and some owl treats, while Sev picked out a comfy cat carrier and some cat milk and treats.

"That will be 60 Galleons." The man said.

After paying for their pet things and putting them inside their trunks, they finally decided to head to the robe shop. They must have made quite a sight, as Hedwig refused to get off of Harry's shoulder and looked quite comfortable there, and Sev's black kitten, who he had called Nyx, was wrapped comfortably in his arms and purring quietly as he stroked her.

Instead of going to Madame Malkins, they went to Twilfitt and Tatting's first. Tom said that if they ever wanted to gain any respect from the upper class children, they would need high class robes. Apparently Twilfitt and Tatting's is where most of the pureblood children got their robes, as they sold better quality and more expencive robes.

As soon as they came within sight of the shop, Tom's attitude changed immidiately. His back straightened, his face became emotionless, he held his arms to the side and his walk became less of a skip and more of a prowl. (Tom refused to admit he had almost been skipping, and Harry and Sev barely hid their laughs. Tom had just been excited for today)

He became the perfect representation of what a pureblood aristocrat should be. Harry and Sev immidiately mimicked him, and Harry had to stifle his sniggers when he saw Sev raise his nose in the air, as if he was looking down at the world.

When they entered the shop, the shop keeper, Mrs Faren, came over to them immidiately, as she currently didn't have any other customers.

"What can I get for you, young sirs?" She asked politely. However, her face immidiately soured when she saw their muggle clothes.

Ah. Right. They were wearing Dudley's hand-me-down clothes. Which were literally hanging off of them. Harry felt his face heat up with shame.

"Three sets of Hogwarts robes, made with Acromantula silk. Some Dragonhide boots and gloves. Three black winter coats with silver fastenings, please." Tom ordered coldly. Tom's tone of voice almost made Harry shiver in fear, as he barely ever heard him speak like that. Obviously, he was trying to prove that they belonged here.

Mrs Faren looked at them shrewdly for a few moments, before approaching them with a measuring tape and some pins.

She guided them to some footstools for them to stand on while she took their measurements, albiet reluctantly, as she kept casting disgusted looks at their clothing. As she was measuring them, she barely touched them if she could help it. Harry was also annoyed to find out that he wassmaller than average.Although he already knew that, due to the malnourishment, he still didn't like it being rubbed in his face. And apparently his brothers were both of normal hight, which irked him to no end.

He let Tom handle the style of stitching as well, since he couldn't tell any of the styles apart.

When their Hogwarts robes were finnished, and they each chose a colour of Dragonhide boots (Harry chose black, Sev chose a maroon red, and Tom chose a dark green) with matching gloves, and their winter cloaks, they decided to get dress robes as well just in case. They also bought some ordinary robes as well to wear on the average day, as they were now going to be living in a wazarding community. Harry was so bored by the end of it that he almost fell asleep.

After they had payed Mrs Faren, who seemed much happier to accomidate them now that she knew that they could pay her for her high priced robes, they set off towards Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions where they knew they would meet Hagrid. Precisely why they left it for last.

Once they got there, they quickly snuck inside as they didn't know how long it would take for Hagrid to come.

They again entered with the grace and dignity of high class society.

They seemed to immidiately catch the eye of Draco Malfoy, who was almost finnsihed in getting his robes finnished. He had the same sneer stuck to his face and arrogant air about him as he did in his last life. Although Harry mourned what Draco turned out to be in the end. A good man, a good friend. It seemed they had a lot of work to do if he ever wanted his friend back, and not the biggoted git that was standing before them right now.

"Hello, Hogwarts too?" Draco asked.

"Yes." Harry replied, feeling quite awkward.

"My father's next door buying my books and Mother's up the street looking at wands," he said. He had the same bored, drawling voice he had the first time. It really got on Harry's nerves. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully Father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."

Harry was, again, strongly reminded of Dudley. However he decided to try and get on Draco's good side this time by offering some quality advice.

"You said your Mother is looking at wands for you?" Harry asked.

"Yes, I do hope i get one of the more powerful ones," he said.

"I actually recommend that you be there when you buy your wand, otherwise you won't have the connection that most wizards have with there wands. Also, you will never cast spells quite as well with another's wand. Spells cast with your own wand are much more powerful. As cheesy as the saying 'the wand chooses the wizard' is, it's actually quite true, and so to get the best results, you will actually need to be there when getting your wand. It's all about wand lore, actually. Some say that wands are sentiant."

Harry had to stop himself from rambling even more, and hoped he hadn't just screwed this up.

To his relief though, Draco seemed to be considering his words.

"Yes, I suppose that does make sence. I'll look fo Mother once my robes are finnished. What house do you reckon you will be sorted in to?" He asked.

"I'm not entirely sure. I suppose either Griffindor or Ravenclaw." Harry replied carefully, looking for Draco's reaction.

Draco looked like he had swallowed a lemon.

"Griffindor? That's a shame, you seemed all right to me. I can't stand Griffindor though. And if i got sorted into Hufflepuff, I'd rather just go back home from the shame."

Harry just sighed. He had a lot of work to do to change Draco's views.

"Theres nothing wrong with being in Hufflepuff. Afterall, they are all about loyalty and hard work. You will never have a more loyal friend than a Hufflepuff. You can't judge people based on the house they are sorted in to." Harry said firmly.

Harry just decided to completely ignore the bewilered look Draco was sending him. He almost jumped out of his skin in fright when he felt someone tap his shoulder. Turning around, he was thankful to find out it was just Tom.

"We've picked out our muggle clothes while you were chatting with Malfoy over there, it's your turn. Don't worry, Sev will keep him company," he said.

Looking at the clothes in Tom's and Severus's arms, Harry could see that Tom had gone for more formal wear, while Sev had gone for smart looking clothes that you could still wear in public without getting looked at strangely.

Harry decided to go for more comfort over looking smart, and got a variety of T-shirts, black jeans, hoodies, converse shoes and beanie hats. He also decided to pointedly ignore the looks he was getting from his brothers as well. If they wanted to dress smart, he would let them. But he had spent way too long in Dudley's old clothes and he wanted to be comfortable in his new choices, while still looking presentable.

Sev had thankfully had the foresight to pick up some socks and boxers as well. Bless him.

"I say, look at that man!" Draco exclaimed, gesturing to the window where Harry saw Hagrid, who looked quite frazzled, waving to them to get their attention.

"Oh, thats Hagrid, he's the Hogwarts gamekeeper," Harry said.

"I've heard he's sort ofsavage. Lives in a hut on the school grounds, ends up getting drunk and failing to do magic by setting his bed on fire," Draco gossiped.

"I think he's brilliant, actually," Harry said coldy. He was fed up of Draco's attitude. They may have gotten along in their past lives after the war, but that was after his arrogant 'I-am-holier-than-thou' attitude had dissapeared. It appeared that he could only handle this Draco Malfoy in small doses, currently.

"Doyou?" Draco said with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"

"Dead," Tom interjected coldly as he walked passed, towards the door. Harry hated to admit that he took some small amount of pleasure in how Draco let out a small squeek of fear. Harry had nothing else to say to him, and so he followed Tom out the store. He didn't miss the look of dissapointment in Severus's eyes, though.

"Don't worry Sev," Hary tried to assure him. "We have time to make things right." Sev could only nod as Harry dragged him out the store with him, and right into the path of a worried Hagrid.

"Where were yeh? A've been lookin' all over fer yeh. Ah couldna find yah anywhere. Coulda lost yeh, coulda' bin kidnapped fer all ah know. Shoulda bin more responsible." He ranted.

"Sorry Hagrid," Tom quickly said in a desperate attempt to get him to stop talking. "But you did leave us on our own to do our shopping, and we managed to get it finished. We never split up, and you didn't tell us any specific time or place where we should have met up with you, so you can't entirely blame us for you not being able to find us."

Hagrid seemed to squirm where he stood.

"Aye, ah suppose so, aye," he agreed. "If yeh've finished yer shoppin', ah suppose we should get goin' then, yeh?" Hagrid asked, slightly dejected. It seemed he wanted to be there for their first shopping trip in Diagon Alley. Harry found it rather sweet, actually.

After they left Diagon Alley, Hagrid helped them on to the train which would take them back to the Dursley's. Although there wasn't much to help with, seeing as the boys all had shrinkable trunks. Hagrid seemed quite surprised about that, actually.

He then handed them their tickets for the Hogwarts Express. "First o' September - Kings Cross - It's all on yer tickets. If theres any problems with the Dursley's send me an owl, an' ah'll see teh it." Hagrid winked, and then left.

The train pulled out of the station, and Harry could have face - palmed at his own stupidity. They had forgotten to ask Hagrid how to get onto the platform. Now they would have to ask the Weasley's again, who had been stealing from their vaults!

"I'm such an Idiot!"

"Yes, well we knew that already. What's new?"

Two slaps could be heard throughout the train carriages.


End file.
